‘It was worth getting wounded just to have you look after me,’ I said to her.
‘Someone needs to look after you. If we had arrived a moment later it would you be you lying there instead of him,’ she nodded at Sextus.
‘One question, though. Why are you here? Not that I am ungrateful.’
She finished tying off the bandage, took the bow from her shoulder and strung an arrow from her quiver.
‘Claudia had a dream last night. She saw you on a beach being killed.’ She walked forward a couple of paces, drew back her bowstring and fired the arrow, which whistled through the air and hit a wounded Roman soldier who was crawling across the sand, leaving a blood trail behind him. He moved no more. ‘So she told me and I told Nergal that you were in danger.’ She placed her bow back over her shoulder. ‘So here we are.’
‘Claudia had a dream!’
‘She has the gift of foresight,’ she said.
I laughed aloud. She looked daggers at me. ‘She was right about today was she not, prince of Parthia. Do not dismiss what you do not understand.’
I was saved by Titus Sextus, who let out a groan. I ordered two men to pick him up and carry him to his ship, and then to put him in the rear cabin and nailed the doors shut. All deck hatches were similarly nailed shut. The fifty bodies of our dead comrades were heaped onto the pyre, which was set alight. I ordered the carts to be driven back to camp as groups of horses were led off the beach to save them from the nauseating smell of roasting human flesh that now filled our nostrils. Nergal appeared and threw a figure at my feet.
‘He says he knows you, highness.’ It was the eunuch.
‘Indeed he does, Nergal, and he shall stay with us a while.’
‘I was not my idea, lord,’ he whimpered. ‘Marcus Aristius was the progenitor of the plan.’
I grabbed his throat and pulled him up. ‘I’ve no doubt, but he’s not here and you are, which is unfortunate for you.’
‘What about the ships, highness?’ asked Nergal.
‘Burn them.’
He gave the order and soon each vessel was alight as the piles of sackcloths on the decks, soaked in oil, were lit. They were soon ablaze as the flames devoured wood, canvas and sails, the screams of those entombed within their holds competing with the roar of the infernos as the flames took hold. I watched as the boats burned fiercely and as the screams gradually died away until the only sound was the spitting and crackling of the burning hulks. I told Nergal to leave me a score of men and to take the rest back to camp. I embraced Gallia and told her to go back with Nergal.
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.
I looked at the eunuch. ‘Repay a debt.’
We took the whimpering creature a mile inshore, dragging him behind me on a rope that had bound his wrists together. All the time he was trying to save himself, explaining that he was only doing his master’s bidding. He probably was, but I was uninterested. All I could think about was how I had been betrayed and nearly killed, and how many of my men’s charred bodies remained on that beach, piled onto a funeral pyre. We halted at a place where two dirt tracks crossed each other. I ordered two of my men to find a young tree and cut it down, then cut the branches off the trunk. We dismounted and I drank some water, for I was suddenly very thirsty. The track had been churned up by the horses and wagons that had passed by earlier. I made no attempt t speak to anyone, for I was still seething over the Roman treachery. I do not know why this was so, for what did I expect from my enemies? Yet the fact that they had broken their word offended me greatly.
After what seemed like an age, the men returned with a trimmed tree trunk about twenty feet in length and four inches in diameter. I ordered one end to be sharpened into a point, then instructed the eunuch to be stripped naked and spread-eagled face down on the ground.
‘No, lord, no. I beg you,’ he screamed as ropes were tied around his ankles and wrists, four men holding the end of each rope. I was impassive to his cries of mercy as the sharpened end of the pole was rammed into his rectum and then driven further into his body by a hammer wielded by a muscled warrior. His screams rent the air and several of my men winced as each blow of the hammer forced the wood further into his anus. The eunuch repeatedly smashed his forehead into the earth as intense pain shot through his body, but there was no release from his torment, which got worse as the minutes passed and as the pole was forced through his body inch by inch until the point came out of his right shoulder blade. As two men dug a hole I handed the man wielding the hammer, and who was now covered in sweat, a water bottle and told him to rest. The eunuch was still alive, still writhing in pain, but made no sound save for barely audible groans. We hoisted him up and planted the hammered end of the pole in the freshly dug hole, then packed it with earth to keep it upright. Then we rode away, leaving the impaled eunuch to endure a slow and painful death. It would take two or three days for him to die, perhaps longer if he was unlucky, and during that time ravens would come and feast on his body. They would peck out his eyes first, and then tear at his flesh with their beaks. It is a cruel death, but pity is wasted on such treacherous people.
When we reached camp I reported to Spartacus, despite my arm being on fire and the bandage soaked in blood. Nergal had informed him what had taken place.
‘Are you surprised?’ he said, handling me a cup of wine as I sat in his tent and Claudia pressed herbs onto my wound and then re-bandaged it.
‘They broke their word.’
He laughed. ‘Of course they did. We are mere slaves and are nothing in their eyes. Did you think that being a prince would entitle you to be treated differently?’
‘They have no honour,’ I replied.
He sat opposite and looked at me. Claudia finished applying the bandage and kissed me on the cheek. ‘Listen, my young friend. For the Romans, honour is for equals. We have wounded their pride by rising up, defeating their soldiers and sacking their towns. And now we have held one of their cities to ransom. Forced it to do our bidding. Their sense of outrage had become intolerable for them to bear. Therefore they tried to kill you. The fact that they failed will only increase their thirst for vengeance, especially when they discover their charred ships full of blackened bones.’
‘No mercy for those who break their word,’ was all I could say.
‘You did the right thing,’ said Spartacus.
‘How’s the arm?’ asked Claudia.
‘It will heal,’ I said. ‘I owe you my life, lady. Gallia told me that you had warned her that I was in danger.’
Spartacus rose from his chair, walked over to his wife and cupped her face in his large hands. Then he kissed her.
‘Useful thing to have a woman whom the gods talk to.’
‘I do not talk to the gods,’ she chastened him,’ they reveal things to me, that is all.’
‘A wondrous gift,’ I said.
‘Or a curse,’ she said. ‘Not all the visions I have are happy ones. I have no control over what is revealed to me.’
‘Crixus was right, we should attack the city,’ I said, changing the subject. For in truth the only thing that was in my mind was revenge.
‘Were you hit on the head as well?’ said Spartacus.
‘We should put Thurri to the sword.’
Spartacus poured himself more wine. ‘We have no time for you to settle your personal vendetta. The army is almost ready. We are done with this place, and we are marching north.’
‘They have offended us!’
‘They have offended you.’