The Legion

'I am no longer a slave, Your Highness,' Ajax replied firmly. 'Neither are my followers. We are free men, by right of arms. We acknowledge no master and have no loyalty to any kingdom. Therefore we kneel to no man.'

'I see,' Talmis replied slowly, and his lips framed a faint smile. 'Such hubris is a bold approach when you stand unarmed in the middle of my army's camp. If I wished, I could have you cut down to size, should you refuse to kneel to me. And what is a man without his legs?'

'If you harmed me, you would have to kill my men also. And that would deprive you of a useful ally in your fight against Rome. Not to mention those of your men we would kill before you destroyed us.'

'I think you underestimate my bodyguards, gladiator.'

'Really?' Ajax smiled. Then, before the men either side of him could react, he turned and snatched the spear from the man to his right, thrust the shaft between the man's legs and flipped the shaft up so that the guard's leg shot up, and he toppled heavily on to his back. Ajax spun round, spear held in both fists, and blocked the thrust aimed at his chest by the other man, then slammed the butt into his face. Dazed, the man's fingers released his spear and it slipped to the ground. Ajax hooked his foot behind the guard's boot and thrust again with the butt of the spear, sending him thudding to the ground. He spun the spear round and stood over the guard, holding the tip of the spear an inch from his throat. He paused, then lowered the spear and grasped the man's hand and hauled him up before thrusting the spear back into the hands of the first guard who had only just scrambled back on to his feet.

'And I think you underestimate gladiators, Highness.' Ajax resumed his position between the two dazed guards who eyed him warily.

Talmis had sat up quickly as Ajax disarmed his guards and his hand was resting on the handle of an ornate dagger handle. He released his grip and chuckled. 'I should not have doubted you. I had heard rumours that Rome's slave warriors were men to be reckoned with. Now I see the rumours are true.'

'We are not slaves of Rome any longer, Your Highness,' Ajax replied with quiet intensity. 'And we choose who we offer our service to. For now, we would serve you, as Nubia wages war on Rome.'

Talmis regarded him silently for a moment, and then nodded. 'Then you, and your men, are welcome. There is always a place for fine warriors at my side.' He gestured towards the heads on the platter. 'Now tell me how you came by such a… gift. I cannot believe it was a chance encounter.'

'Nor was it,' Ajax replied. 'My men and I had been obliged to flee down the Nile after our last camp was surprised. Word of our presence spread and we had to keep on the move. One of my men is a Nubian, and knows the lands of the upper Nile well. He advised me that Roman settlements were scarce and that we might have a better chance of evading our pursuers if we moved further to the south. As we passed Diospolis Magna in the hills to the east, I saw the Roman army gathering there. I had heard that war was brewing between Rome and Nubia and I thought that I might be welcomed as an ally if I brought useful intelligence to you, Highness. So we observed the Roman camp for some days, noting their numbers and equipment. Then, fortune smiled on us. We saw the Roman commander and two aides ride out of his camp, with a squadron of legionary cavalry as escort. They took the Nile road to the south, and we followed them. When they camped for the night, my gladiators attacked. I slew the legate with my own hand.'

'You did not think to take him hostage and demand a ransom?'

'No. I had an unfortunate experience with my last two Roman hostages. They escaped me, so I resolved not to take any more.'

'Candidus did not even give you the opportunity to take him prisoner, then?'

'I did not give him the opportunity to ask it.'

'I see.' Talmis stroked his heavy jaw for a moment as he regarded the man standing before him. Ajax returned his gaze with unwavering eyes, without displaying any sign of nervousness or uncertainty. At length the Prince stopped stroking his chin and opened his hand. 'Before I make any alliance with another man, I make a point of understanding precisely what it is that impels them to seek an alliance in the first place.'

'A wise precaution, Highness.'

'Just so.' Talmis nodded. 'The question I ask you is why you so evidently hate the Romans with every fibre of your being?'

'Is it not enough that I do hate them?'

'No. I must know all.' Talmis smiled thinly. 'Indulge me.'

Ajax was silent for a moment before he replied. 'I was forced into slavery and sold to a gladiator school. I was treated as a common brute, and trained to kill men at the behest of my master, for the entertainment of the mob. It is not a condition with which I was comfortable, Highness. I was born free and I will die free and I will never again be a slave.'

'So, you would make slavery your enemy? Then you would make an enemy of me, for I have slaves by the thousand.'

'My enemy is not slavery,' Ajax countered. 'My enemy is Rome.'

'Then you are an ambitious man indeed.' Talmis smiled. 'Your ambitions exceed your means, gladiator. You cannot afford such an enemy as Rome. That is the privilege of kings and princes – not slaves, gladiators or common free men.'

'Yet I choose to make Rome my enemy, Highness. If a man is not free to choose his enemies then he is not free at all.'

Talmis raised his eyebrows. 'That is a peculiarly extreme definition of liberty… I suspect that there is a less abstract motive for your hatred of Rome, or perhaps your hatred for specific Romans. Am I not right?'

Ajax was still for a moment and then nodded.

'Then tell me what really drives your hatred.'

'I would rather not, Highness,' Ajax replied quietly. 'The wounds are deep. Is it not sufficient that I swear to serve you loyally, whatever the ultimate reason?'

'It is not sufficient for me,' the Prince replied firmly. 'In exchange for accepting you into my service I demand that you keep no secrets from me, and if you ever deceive me I will have your heart cut out.' He paused briefly to let the threat sink in. 'So tell me, gladiator, what has driven you to offer your services?'

Ajax drew a deep breath and sighed. 'Very well. Then know that before I was a slave, I was a pirate. An ignoble and parasitical pursuit, some might argue.'

'And well they might.'

Ajax pursed his lips and continued. 'The truth is that we were a brotherhood, loyal to each other and motivated by lust for booty. Many of us had women and children. We were bound to each other in the same way that other people are. Life was good. We took what we needed and perhaps more than we needed on occasion. Then came the day when the Romans decided to hunt us down and exterminate us, like vermin.'

'As I would have done, if you had preyed on my kingdom.'

Ajax looked pained. 'I know that, and accept it. But whatever you may make of me and my brothers, it is still the case that they were family and friends and they were all that I had ever had. The Romans destroyed it all. They burned our ships, sacked our settlement, massacred our men, women and children.' Ajax swallowed bitterly. 'My own father they nailed to a cross and left to die. They enslaved me and the other survivors.'

'And you blame Rome for this?'

'Rome in general, and those Roman officers who killed my father in particular – Macro and Cato. I had years to nurse my grievance, and then fate thrust us together during the recent slave rebellion on Crete.' Ajax clenched his teeth. 'Again they frustrated me. They broke the rebellion and since then they have been hunting for me and the handful of men who are all that remain of the army of slaves that I led against Rome.'

'And this is why you come here? You wish me to provide you with a haven, safe from those who hunt you?' Prince Talmis's lips rose in a faint sneer. 'Far from offering me the benefit of your service, it is my protection that you seek.'

'No, Highness. All I seek is revenge. I do not care how I attain that, only that I live to see it happen, or die a free man in the pursuit of revenge.'