Simon Scarrow - Barbarian

Murena looked back at Macro.

‘It’s not that simple, optio. You know our dirty little secret. And if the mob discover that Claudius tried to poison the new hero of arena, well,’ Murena frowned at his feet, as if a snake was crawling up his leg, ‘Let’s just say they wouldn’t be too happy. Our problem is, can we trust you? You see, the Emperor doesn’t trust people easily. Neither do Pallas or I. Under normal circumstances we’d simply kill you off in a back street and be done with it. But we can’t bump off every hero of the empire. Luckily for you, Rome does need the odd one or two to inspire the mob. So Pallas and I are giving you a chance to prove your loyalty to Claudius.’

‘How do you mean?’ Macro asked, his voice low and uncertain.

Murena grinned as the sound of the crowd slowly died away and the heavy drum-roll of footsteps echoed through the plaza as people made their way to the exits and flooded out into the streets. The freedman said, ‘Since you appear to be a rather effective gladiator trainer, you’re going to train Pavo’s next opponent, optio. You know the young man’s weaknesses. You will train your man to exploit them, so that the mob will see Pavo humiliated, his victory over Britomaris remembered as nothing more than a fluke. You can do that, or you can join Titus in an unmarked grave. The choice is yours. .’