'Why should I?' Cato replied evenly. 'They are as good as dead already'

'Your face betrays you. I think they mean far more to you than you would ever admit. If not, then the last demand I shall give you will be the easiest to comply with. Three, I will send a man back here tomorrow, at dawn. You will give him your response to this question.'

Ajax paused, savouring the moment. 'I want you to choose who I will let live, Centurion Macro, or Julia Sempronia. It is your choice, Tribune Cato. You will tell my man who is to live and who is to die when he comes. If you fail to give him an answer, then I will have them both put to death, in full view of your camp, and I give you my word that their deaths will be long and painful.'

An icy dread filled Cato's body. He could not think, could not utter a response. So he stood and stared.

Ajax read his reaction well and nodded with satisfaction. 'Until tomorrow then, Tribune.'

He remounted his horse and spurred it back towards his followers, and then led them back down the hill at a gallop. Cato stood still and watched them, tracking the small band as it wound through the rebel camp, around the end of the bay towards a small hillock on the peninsula stretching into the sea. Only then did he turn and walk slowly back towards the gates of the Roman camp.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

We have to attack tonight,' Cato decided, after he related the demands made by Ajax.

The other officers in the tent stirred uneasily. Outside, the noon sun beat down on the Roman camp. The wind had died away during the morning, so that the air inside the tent was stifling. Cato had summoned his senior officers the moment Decius Balbus, the navarch, had reached the camp, after his gruelling ride from the bay where his squadron lay at anchor. Cato had made up his mind to attack the rebel camp as he had made his way back to his headquarters after confronting Ajax.

Centurion Casca, the prefect of the cavalry cohort, responded first. 'Sir, you said that the enemy would set fire to all the ships at the first sign of an attack.'

Cato nodded. 'That was what Ajax said, and I believe him.'

'Then why attack? The fleet will be burned and the people in Rome will starve. Surely the priority is to save the grain ships and send them on to Rome as soon as possible.'

'Even if that means agreeing to his demands?'

Balbus scratched his chin and thought a moment before speaking.

'If you attack, and he destroys the fleet, then we will have a political disaster on our hands. If you agree to his demands, then Rome will avoid starvation. You will, of course, be condemned for bowing to the will of this rebel and his army of slaves. I imagine that, the emperor and the senate will show you no mercy' He paused and looked directly at Cato. 'It seems to me that the choice is between the lives of many in Rome, or your shame and exile or execution, sir.'

Cato smiled slightly. 'You are right, and the choice is mine.

However, I think there is something else you have to consider. What if we go along with Ajax, and he still destroys the grain ships?'

'Is that likely?' asked Fulvius. 'Why would he do that?'

'It's simple,' Cato replied.' He hates Rome with every fibre of his being. And he hates me almost as much.'

'You? Why, sir?'

'It's a long story, but the key to it is that Ajax holds me, and Prefect Macro, responsible for the crucifixion of his father, and for his own enslavement. This is as much about having revenge on us as it is about winning his freedom.'

'Forgive me, sir, but are you certain of this?' Fulvius continued in a cautious tone. 'Is there a danger that you are exaggerating your influence over this man's actions?'

'I have thought about it carefully. I've been over every detail of the man and his words that I can recall from our encounter earlier this morning. I am certain that he means to do me, and Rome, as much harm as possible. Ajax lives for revenge. When he spoke to me, every word was calculated to increase my fear for my friends. He wants to see me tormented for as long as possible before delivering the final crushing blow. I could see it in his eyes.' Cato winced at the memory of the glint of madness in the gladiator's gaze. 'I am sure of it. He will burn those ships the moment he is confident that he and his followers are beyond our reach. If I am right, then we have nothing to lose in risking an attack. Those ships are doomed if we do anything else. That is why we must try to save them as soon as possible. I'm hoping that if we make the attempt tonight, we may catch the rebels by surprise.' Cato let the words of his argument sink in for a moment.

Balbus still seemed unconvinced. 'If the attack fails to take them by surprise and they set fire to the ships, then the emperor is not going to be persuaded that the rebels were planning on doing it anyway. Claudius will want the heads of those responsible for the destruction of the grain ships, sir.'

Fulvius rounded on the navarch.' Then we'll bloody well have to make sure the attack is a success, right? You and the navy do your bit, and we'll do ours.'

Cato briefly felt his heart warm to his subordinate, before he responded, 'Balbus, if it puts your mind at rest, I will assume full responsibility for ordering the attack. I'll have that in writing for any officer here that requests it.'

The navarch nodded and replied flatly, ' Thank you, sir. I would appreciate it. On the off chance that the attack goes tits up and the ships are burned.'

Cato sighed wearily. 'Well, there's no point in having more of us paying the price of failure than necessary, is there?'

'No, sir,' Balbus agreed easily. Then he tilted his head slightly to one side with a questioning expression. 'There is one thing though.'

'Oh?'

'Why is there a need to attack tonight? It seems a bit rushed to me.'

Cato stood still and stared back at the navarch. This was the point of the meeting that he had feared. The question was fair, and although the answer he had prepared was well reasoned from a tactical point of view, he knew that his personal feelings had played the most important part in reaching his decision. If these men were to risk their lives in an attack, it was only right that Cato took them into his confidence and told them the full truth. He cleared his throat to address them in a voice unclouded by emotion.

'Most of you know that the rebels took the governor's daughter and Prefect Macro prisoner some time ago. Ajax let me know that they are still alive, and being held in his camp.'

'Then they will surely be killed the moment we attack,' said Balbus. 'All the more reason to delay any action. At least until you can try to negotiate their release.'

Cato shook his head. 'We can't wait. Ajax has promised to put one of them to death at dawn tomorrow. He said that I must choose which one. If I refuse, then he will have both of them killed. That is why the attack has to go in tonight.'

'Shit,' Fulvius muttered, looking at Cato in horror as the full implication of the threat struck him. 'I'm so sorry, sir.'

Cato rubbed his jaw. 'Ajax is playing games with us. All part of his plan to torment me as far as he can. In fact, this is an opportunity for us. If Ajax thinks that I am so paralysed with concern and indecision for my friends, then he will not be expecting me to act decisively. He will also assume that I dare not attack for fear of putting their lives at risk. That is why we must go in tonight, while there is still a chance of achieving an element of surprise.'

'What if this is a ploy to provoke you into an attack?' asked Balbus.

'To get you to act tonight?'

'Why would he do that? If I attack and the ships are set on fire, then the rebels have nothing to negotiate with.'

'Assuming that he has given orders to set fire to the ships.'