Conn Iggulden - The Death Of Kings

“But what about the house you were going to build? Gods, I've spent days with the architects already.”

Senator Prandus looked at his son, his eyes showing disappointment that hurt the younger man worse than a blow. “Trust me, Suetonius. You would have died in that house so close to his lands. Whether you realize it or not, I have kept you alive. I do not fear him for myself, but you are my eldest son and he is too dangerous for you. He frightens Cato and he should terrify you.”

“I'm not scared of Caesar, or his soldiers!” Suetonius shouted.

His father shook his head sadly. “That, my son, is why you are a fool.”

As Julius and Tubruk guided their horses through the estate gate, they heard a shout from the main building. Brutus ran out to meet them and their cheerful greetings died on their lips as they saw his expression.

“Thank the gods you've come back,” he said. “The Senate is calling everyone in. Primigenia has to be ready to move.” As he spoke, a slave brought his own mount out and he swung himself into the saddle.

“What's happening?” Julius snapped as Brutus took up his reins, feeling a surge of excitement.

“A slave rebellion in the north. Thousands of them and hundreds of gladiators who killed their keepers. Mutina has been overrun,” Brutus replied, his face pale under the road dust.

“That's not possible! There are two legions there,” Tubruk broke in, horrified.

“That was the report. The messengers are out all over, but I thought you'd want the news as fast as I could bring it.”

Julius turned his horse's head and gripped the reins tightly. “I can't take away the men guarding my wife, not with the danger of another rebellion spreading here,” he said flatly.

Brutus shrugged. “The order was to have every available soldier ready to march north, Julius, but I'll forget those ones,” he replied, reaching out to clap his friend's shoulder in support.

Julius gathered in his reins, ready to dig his heels into the horse's flanks. “Make the house secure, Tubruk,” he ordered. “If the rebellion spreads, we may come to appreciate the way you have set up the defenses after all. Keep my family safe, as you have done before.”

They shared a moment of private understanding as Tubruk looked into Julius's eyes. So Brutus couldn't hear, Julius leaned down over the shoulder of his stallion and whispered into Tubruk's ear.

“I know what I owe you,” he said. Sulla's death had saved them all.

“Don't worry. Now go!” Tubruk replied gruffly, slapping Julius's horse on the rump. The two young men bent low over the saddles as they kicked their mounts into a full gallop, raising a mist of dust on the road to Rome.

The Senate building was buzzing with activity as Julius and Brutus approached. They dismounted at the edge of the forum and led their mounts toward the clustered groups of senators who were coming in from all directions, summoned to the emergency meeting from all over the city and beyond.

“How did you get the news so quickly?” Julius asked his friend as they crossed the space. Brutus looked uneasy, then his head came up.

“My mother told me about it. She has a number of… contacts in the Senate. She was probably one of the first to know.”

Julius noted a wariness in Brutus's manner and wondered at it. The young man had been pressing for a meeting between Servilia and himself, and Julius sensed how important it was to him.

“I really will have to see this mother of yours,” he said lightly.

Brutus flashed him a look, searching for mockery, and then relaxed, satisfied. “She is very interested in meeting you, after that trial. I want you to know her. She is like no one else I've met.”

“Perhaps tonight, then, if there's time,” Julius replied, hiding his reluctance. Tubruk had already offered a number of opinions on the woman, but he owed it to Brutus, if it was something he wanted.

Brutus took the reins of the two horses in one hand as they reached the bottom of the steps. “Come to the barracks afterward, if you can. I'll have Primigenia ready to march on your orders,” he said. His eyes were bright with an excitement that made Julius chuckle.

“As soon as I'm free,” he said, walking up the steps and into the gloom beyond.

The Master of Debate and the consul were still on their way, so no official discussion had begun as Julius entered the Senate building. Instead, half the full number of his colleagues were clustered in anxious knots, shouting questions and comments to each other in a clatter of noise that only served to heighten the impression of an emergency. There was no order to it, and Julius took the time to visit those he knew, picking up the details that Brutus had not heard.

Pompey was with Crassus and Cinna, engaged in a heated argument. They acknowledged Julius with a nod as he reached them, then the fast-talking continued.

“Of course you'll have command, my friend. There is no one else of note and even Cato won't hesitate with only the forces at Ariminum guarding the south,” Crassus said to Pompey.

The sun-dark commander shrugged, his face full of bitter knowledge. “He'd do anything to stop me taking military control, you know that. He must not be allowed to put up his own people. Look what happened in Greece! And the pirates that roam at will, attacking our merchants. If these gladiators are the same ones we failed to put down at Vesuvius, then Mutina was lost because of our timid policy since Sulla's death. All because Cato blocks the Senate from sending out a general equal to the task. You think this time will be any different?”

“It may be,” Cinna answered him. “Cato has holdings in the north that must be under threat from the slaves. They could even turn south and attack the city. Cato wouldn't be such an idiot as to ignore a threat to Rome. They must send you out. At least we have the legions back from Greece to join the others.”

“There is the consul, coming in. He must use his veto against Cato if the fat fool interferes. This is more than a personal matter between us. The safety of the north is at stake. The safety of Rome herself.”

Pompey left them, shoving rudely through the gathering senators to speak to the consul as he entered. Julius watched as he met the man, an elder elected to the position as a compromise between the Senate factions. As Pompey spoke to him, his hands moving with his words, the man looked nervous and intimidated. Julius frowned, tapping his fingers against his stomach in tension as the consul turned his back on the gesturing Pompey to step up to the rostrum.

“Take your seats, Senators,” the consul called.

The meeting oath was quickly taken and then the consul cleared his throat to address the tense ranks before him.

“You have been summoned for an emergency meeting to debate a response to the uprising. I have the latest reports with me and they are worrying. It was a revolt of gladiators from a ring school at Capua. At first the local praetor looked as if he could handle it, but he failed to contain the rebellion. It seems they have managed to gather a slave army and flee north. They have plundered a number of towns and estates, killing hundreds and burning anything they could not steal. The legate at Mutina engaged the slaves and the garrison was destroyed with no survivors.”

He paused. Those senators who had not heard the news gasped and shouted in outrage, and the consul raised his hands to calm them.

“Senators, this threat cannot be overstated. The legions at Ariminum have been told to secure the city, but with Mutina gone, the north is completely open. The estimates I have are varied, but they may have as many as thirty thousand slaves under their command, with more coming in as they ravage each town. I can only assume they overwhelmed the Mutina legions with vast numbers. They must be met with the largest force we can muster while still keeping our southern borders secure. I need not tell you that we cannot strip garrisons from Greece without dire risk so soon after their own rebellion.