Free Avenger of Rome by Douglas Jackson Page A

benches on the right of the Roman line. Before the cavalryman facing him could react, the giant tore the man’s shield from him and tossed it away, then picked the soldier up and threw him shrieking over the galley’s side. The big pirate howled in triumph and turned towards the next man in the shield line, but before his comrades could profit from his victory Serpentius had stepped forward and sunk his long sword into the man’s belly, ripping the blade free with a twist of his wrist. The Cilician collapsed disbelievingly into the ship’s bottom and the Spaniard snarled defiance at his enemy and called more of them forward to die.
    They had won three benches before Valerius heard the sound he had been waiting for. The sharp
thunk
of axes chopping into the galley’s wooden hull brought a howl of dismay from the pirates and a screamed order from their captain that launched a ferocious attack on the Roman line. Another spear flicked off the rim of Valerius’s shield and caught him a glancing blow on the cheekplate as he fought off two pirates, one of them, he noticed dispassionately, in a rusting Roman helmet of a pattern that hadn’t been in use since the days of Pompey the Great. With a cry, the first of the men fell into the gap between two rowing benches where a galley slave already cowered. For a moment Valerius puzzled over whose sword had accounted for the pirate: it was a mistake that almost killed him. Just in time he sensed movement and darted a look towards his feet. The pirate had wriggled below the benches and was now readying his sword to stab upwards into the Roman’s unprotected groin. It was too late to bring his own sword round to meet the blow, and evasive action was impeded by the body of an oarsman he had killed earlier. He saw the fierce light in his killer’s eyes even as an axe blade from behind split the grinning head in two, spattering blood and brains on his legs. He shouted his thanks to his saviour, who turned out to be Julius, the lookout, but the sailor was already gone, throwing an oar overboard and bringing his big axe down to bite into the ship’s bottom with all his weight behind it. How long had they been fighting? Valerius had no idea, but the bloody water at his feet reached past his ankles now. The ship was holed and that meant they couldn’t fight for much longer. The other pirate galleys would be closing fast. They had done what they could. Now they had to do the impossible. Without taking his eyes from his enemy he shouted the command. ‘Prepare to disengage!’
    Tiberius grunted to acknowledge the order as he flicked a spearpoint aside with the edge of his shield.
    ‘One step at a time, on my shout … Now!’
    Somehow keeping his shield steady and fending off his attackers, Valerius made the awkward step back over the rowing bench and the body that was still chained to it. He could only hope that the other men were doing the same. In front of him the pirate crew howled as they realized what was happening and renewed their attack with redoubled fury.
    He risked a glance at the boards and saw water gushing through a jagged hole low down on the side of the boat. A sword stabbed at his throat, forcing him to duck behind his shield, and another hacked at the leather covering, drawing splinters from the wood.
    ‘Now.’
    At last, the galley walls began to curve inwards and he could hear cries from the
Golden Cygnet
as the axemen clambered back on board. ‘Tiberius,’ he cried. ‘Get your men out of here. I’ll close on you and we’ll hold them from the centre. Serpentius? You follow them.’
    By now the pirates were fighting with the frenzy of the damned as they realized they had to regain control of the galley before it sank under them. He could hear the captain’s roars above the howls of the gutted and maimed and the groans of the dying. Someone must have found a bow, because for the first time arrows began to zip past Valerius’s head. One hit his shield with a sharp