Rome’s Fallen Eagle Read Free Page B

The girl’s young eyes stared greedily at the blood wetting the floor.
    ‘My husband will hear of this.’
    ‘Your husband will hear nothing, Milonia Caesonia,’ Clemens informed her coldly, ‘ever again.’
    For a moment she hesitated; then she drew herself up and looked Clemens in the eyes; defiance burned in hers. ‘If you mean to kill me too then my brother will avenge me.’
    ‘No he won’t. Your half -brother, Corbulo, thinks that you’ve brought shame and dishonour to his family. If he’s sensible he’ll get his legion, the Second Augusta, to swear loyalty to the new Emperor; then, when he’s served his term as legate, he’ll come back to Rome and hope that the stain on his character that you have left will be forgotten in time.’
    Milonia Caesonia closed her eyes, as if acknowledging to herself the truth of the statement.
    Clemens walked towards her with his sword drawn.
    She held up the child. ‘Will you spare Julia Drusilla?’
    ‘No.’
    Milonia Caesonia clutched her daughter tightly to her breast.
    ‘But as a favour to you I will kill you first so you don’t see her die.’
    ‘Thank you, Clemens.’ Milonia Caesonia kissed her child on the forehead and set her down; she immediately started to wail, holding her arms up to her mother and jumping up and down to be picked up again. After a few moments of being ignored she flew at her mother in a frenzy, tearing at her stola with sharp nails and teeth.
    Milonia Caesonia looked down with tired eyes at the screaming brat at her feet. ‘Do it now, Clemens.’
    Clemens grasped her shoulder with his left hand and punched his sword up under her ribs; her eyes bulged open and she exhaled softly. The child looked at the blood seeping from the wound and, after a moment’s incomprehension, started to laugh. Clemens gave one more thrust and Milonia Caesonia’s eyes closed. He wrenched his sword out and the child’s laughter died. With a squeal of fear she turned and scampered off.
    ‘Lupus! Get that monster,’ Clemens shouted, laying Milonia Caesonia’s body down.
    The centurion sprinted after the small figure and caught her within a few paces. She lashed out with her nails, drawing blood on his arm, as he lifted her, before sinking her teeth into his wrist. With a cry of pain, Lupus grabbed her ankle and held her, struggling and screeching, dangling upside-down at arm’s length.
    ‘For the sake of the gods, finish her!’ Clemens ordered.
    A shriek curtailed by a sickening crunch made Sabinus wince.
    After a quick look at his handiwork Lupus tossed the lifeless body aside to land in a crumpled, broken heap at the base of the bloodied column.
    ‘Good,’ Clemens said, sharing the relief that everyone in the room felt at the sudden quiet. ‘Now take half of your men and search the eastern side of the palace for Claudius.’ He pointed at a Praetorian optio. ‘Gratus, you take the other half into the western side.’
    With smart salutes Lupus and Gratus led their men off.
    Clemens turned to Sabinus. ‘I’m going to find where my drooling idiot of a patron has hidden himself. You should go now, my friend, it’s done; get out of the city before this becomes public.’
    ‘I think it already has,’ Sabinus replied. The good-humoured noise that had emanated from the theatre below had now turned into uproar.
    Sabinus squeezed his brother-in-law’s shoulder, turned and ran out of the palace. Screams and panicked cries filled the air as he raced down the Palatine.
    People had started to die.

 
     
     
     
     
    PART I

    R OME , T HE S AME D AY

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER I
    V ESPASIAN HAD ENJOYED the play despite the Emperor’s constant interruptions; The Pot of Gold was not his favourite by Plautus but the dual-meaning dialogue, misunderstandings and slapstick chases as the miserly protagonist Euclio tries to hang onto his new-found wealth always made him laugh. The problem he had with the play was that he actually rather sympathised with Euclio’s