where he had left his horse, having left two men behind to keep an eye on the gladiator camp.
“Any changes?” Valerius asked.
“None so far. The gladiators haven’t noticed our patrol or my men watching over their camp,” Gaius replied, still keeping his voice low even though they were a quarter-mile from the camp.
“What about numbers, theirs and our prisoners?” Valerius then asked as he was already working out a plan in his head.
“We have a more accurate count now. From what we can see, there are at least three hundred and thirty of our men down there give or take; probably more we can’t see. As for the gladiators, most likely no more than two hundred, maybe three, but most are drunk, and a few others already asleep from what we can see. I’ve noticed women as well, runaways most likely.”
“Defenses?”
“It is a basic camp, not much of an outer wall, no trenches, sparse lighting, and a dozen watchmen from what I can tell.”
“And no sign of any Carthaginians?”
“None — These gladiators act alone, apparently.”
Valerius raised his hand to his chin and settled his fingers over the rough stubbles as, he thought briefly to himself. He could see in Gaius’ eyes, and the eyes of those men around him that they were eager to get down there and do something to save their captive comrades, but he knew any action on his part would not only put his legion, what little he had left in danger, but it would slow their march back to Rome as well. He had to reach the city before Hannibal’s army did. Rome could not hold without his men behind its walls, nor was there any way they could hope to engage a larger force out in the open, which is what he may be forced to do if he came behind Hannibal’s lines, if the city was already besieged. Valerius sighed, knowing there was no way he was going to leave Romans to die to such a horrid fate as the ones that the gladiators were given them.
“We will have to do this quickly,” Valerius began. “I will take the first cavalry cohort along with two centuries of infantry and ride to the north of the camp, and attack in one hour. You, on the other hand, will have to take your men, a dozen, no more, and sneak down into the encampment, and eliminate the watchmen. We cannot allow those bastards to raise any alarms as we’re approaching. We only have a short time. The sun will be up in four hours, and I want the gladiators dead or scattered, the Roman prisoners secured and put with the rest of our column, and all of us back on the road to Rome by sunrise.”
Gaius smiled.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be done long before that.”
Valerius grinned as he turned and got back up on his horse, as did the rest of his men who had followed him.
“I’ll see you on the field then,” Valerius smiled as he turned and rode off.
“Come on, we’ve got gladiators to kill,” Gaius said as he ran back to the hill that overlooked the camp.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The killing within the camp had not subsided since Gaius, and his soldiers had first discovered it over an hour ago. He, along with a dozen men had made their way down the surrounding hills, and was so far undetected. He had informed his men what Valerius had instructed them to do, and not a one of them had questioned the orders. Each eagerly followed into the lion’s den, so to speak.
He and his dozen troopers had removed their armor and most of their other gear, opting for stealth over protection. They had muddied their faces and arms and took with them only their gladius’ and daggers. Gaius then broke his men into four groups, three men each, and gave them their assignments. So far, as he and his company moved along the outer perimeter around the camp, they had not been spotted by the few sentries they saw.
Most of the gladiators were still celebrating their games, using the captured Romans for their amusement. Gaius had seen what these men were already capable of, and ever since he had found the estate that had belonging to Decima Felix Titus, he had prayed to the gods to give him the chance to track these men down and expense justice. Even the Gauls, Spanish or the Carthaginians did not treat Roman prisoners as these men were now. They would at least have the decency to kill them outright, or at the very least, torture these men for a purpose, to learn more about their enemies. No, these gladiators took special care to showcase their hatred for Rome and its people. He doubted that even the gods of the underworld could be so cruel.
As the screaming within the camp continued, Gaius was about to get his first chance to spill the blood of the gladiator bastards, as he inched quietly towards two sentries, which spent more time talking to each other than keeping their eyes out towards the surrounding darkness.
There was only the moon light overhead and two torches behind the sentries to illuminate the area. Gaius was, however, moving within the shadows of the fence, which concealed him entirely.
Maurus, who had joined Gaius’ group, came from the opposite direction. He couldn’t see him, but knew if they timed it right that they would be able to attack the sentries from their blind sides. Then, Gaius caught the glint of white in Maurus’ eyes as he saw that he was in position. He had a few extra feet to cover before he could attack his target, so he would have to lead, putting himself in danger for just a fraction of a second before Maurus could drop the second sentry.
He waited as the furthest sentry took a swig from the jug, which blinded him for a moment before he leaped up and attacked the closer of the two.
Gaius didn’t make a sound, save for the sudden ruffling of the grass under his feet as he charged forward.
The first sentry barely had time to react before the sharp point of Gaius’ dagger tore through the back of the man’s neck, ripping out through his throat.
The man tried to scream, but no words left his mouth as bubbles of blood and gargling mutters of death could be uttered.
The sentry with the jug quickly realized what happened as he dropped the vase, which shattered on the ground, then attempted to reach for his sword. However, his head was suddenly jerked backward as a second dagger, Maurus’ was thrust repeatedly into his lower back.
Both sentries dropped to the ground nearly at the same time before the two Romans hurriedly grabbed the dead bodies before any of the nearby gladiators saw what they had done, and hid them between the fence and shadows, before both rapidly darted into the camp.
Gaius and Maurus, plus Cato ducked behind a series of small tents that were set near the outer perimeter. They waited a moment to see if there was any sudden call for alarm, but after a full minute, they heard no change, just the screaming of Romans and the joyful laughter of the gladiators. They then quietly moved through the rest of the camp.
As Gaius reached one bend, he stopped and put his back up against the side of the goat skin tent. Maurus quickly darted over to the opposite side. Between them were two drunken gladiators who stood no more than thirty feet from either of them. They were talking to one another, as one of the men was peeing on the ground, seemly making a joke about his ability to write his name with his piss, which the other gladiator thought was hilarious.
When the man was done, they turned and continued towards Gaius and Maurus’ direction, passing a small wine skin between each other.
Gaius had his sword drawn and attacked the man who was drinking. The sudden shock of iron ripping through his guts caused the man to spit out a mouthful of wine, which was quickly followed by blood.
The second man hadn’t any time to react either as Maurus plunged his sword right through the man’s chest.
They let the two bodies’ fall where they lay as their blood mixed into the already wet mud, before Gaius and his party quickly continued forward.
A short time later it was Cato that got the next kill, as the three came across a man who stood over a large water barrel, and as the man dip, his head into the water Cato stepped behind him and thrust his sword down into
