The Gladiator Read Free Page A

towards the gangway. ‘We have to get on deck, as quick as possible.’
    Julia stumbled up the steps towards the deck. ‘Why? What’s happening?’
    With a quick glance at Jesmiah Cato replied, ‘Trust me and do as I say’
    They emerged on to the deck in a scene of terror and chaos. Macro had tied the senator to the foot of the mast and was hurriedly doing the same for himself. All around the other passengers and crew were doing the best they could to secure themselves to the vessel. The captain had joined the steersman on the small steering deck and both men braced their arms on the tiller and stared grimly ahead.
    Jesmiah stared round in horror and drew up. Cato grabbed her arm and dragged her roughly towards the mast.
    ‘Come on, girl! There’s not much time.’ As soon as they reached Macro and Sempronius, Cato thrust Julia and her maid down on to the deck and took up the tail end of the rope Macro had used to secure himself to the mast. Glancing up, he saw that the wave was much closer now, travelling at an extraordinary speed as it swept along the coast. He snapped round to the two women.
    ‘Raise your arms!’
    Running the rope round their stomachs, Cato circled the mast and tied the end into the loop round Macro’s waist.
    ‘What about you, lad?’ Macro looked up anxiously.
    ‘I need more rope.’ Cato stood up and glanced round. Every spare length seemed to have been taken. Then his eyes caught sight of something over the side of the
Horus
, no more than fifty paces away in the sea.The glistening tip ofa rock was exposed above the surface, and as Cato looked, more rocks emerged. Closer to the shore it seemed that some tidal current had drawn the water away, laying bare reefs and even the stunted upper works of an old wreck. The sight astonished him for an instant before a terrified shout from one of the crew snatched his attention back towards the wave. It was visible to everyone on the deck now. A great dark monster, crested with a haze of white spray as it came on in a rippling, glassy mass, straight towards the
Horus
. Ahead of it, the tiny wings of a seagull glimmered in the fading glow of the sunset, then the bird was lost in the shadow of the wave.
    ‘Cato!’
    He turned and saw Julia staring at him, struggling to reach out and grasp his hand. Cato knew there was no time to tie himself down. It was too late for him. He slumped down on the deck and squeezed himself between Macro and Julia as best he could, grasping them both round the shoulders. The light breeze that had been blowing along behind the ship abruptly died and the sail sagged like old skin from the spar, before suddenly being taken aback as the wave thrust the air ahead of it. T h e great mass of water rose up ahead of the ship, high, higher than the mast, and Cato felt his stomach knot as he gritted his teeth and squinted at the oncoming monster.
    The deck suddenly lurched as the bows swept up, and the air was filled with cries and wails of terror and the sound of the sea surging past the sides of the
Horus
. Those clustered about the base of the mast clung to each other as the deck canted at a crazy angle and a mountain of sea swelled up above the ship, dwarfing it. For an instant Cato was lost in abject awe before the mighty apparition hanging over the ship, and he saw the spume and spray fringing the top of the wave. With a scream, one of the crewmen came tumbling down the deck, silenced as his head cracked against the deck hatch.
    At that moment the
Horus
lost the brief struggle with the wave and slid back. A torrent of water crashed down over the vessel, snapping the mast offten feet above the heads ofthe Romans tied to its base. Just before the black deluge of tons of water smashed down on the ship, Macro shouted up at the wave,’Fuck you!’
    Then the sea crashed over them. Cato’s head was snapped back against the mast and for an instant he saw white. He opened his mouth to cry out and at once it was filled with salt water. A