Free The Legion by Simon Scarrow

audience. ‘You heard ’em. Their mood was almost rebellious. A number of them have influential contacts in Rome. If that isn’t bad enough, the last two emperors have handed out Egyptian estates to their favourites as if they were party snacks. Even Narcissus has a few parcels of land in the delta. The trade in grain and other produce from those estates is being put in jeopardy by Ajax. Narcissus is the kind of man of influence that I’d rather not get on the wrong side of. So it’s vital that Narcissus and his friends know that I am doing all that I can to keep a lid on the tensions here in Alexandria.’

    ‘But you’re not going to actually give us what we need to do the job, are you, sir?’ said Macro.

    ‘No. I can’t. I told you, our forces are stretched thinly as it is. I can’t afford to send them on some damned wild goose chase.’

    ‘It wouldn’t be a wild goose chase if we had more men and more ships,’ Macro persisted. ‘We could cover the ground more quickly, and be there in overwhelming strength when we eventually find Ajax.’

    ‘If you find him.’

    ‘We’ll find him,’ Cato said firmly. ‘You have my word on it.’

    ‘What if he quits the delta?’ Petronius asked. ‘What if he sails north, or west? What then? You’ll be wasting time chasing shadows.’

    ‘He won’t leave the area. Why should he? He’s doing a great job of stirring up local feeling against Rome. He’ll stay here as long as he thinks he is undermining our interests in Egypt. Give us the fleet and we can find him and trap him in short order.’

    ‘Give you the fleet?’ Petronius smiled mockingly. ‘I’m already having to use the marines to supplement the city watch. Besides, every available man is needed to counter the Nubians.’

    ‘I need the fleet,’ Cato insisted.

    Petronius breathed in sharply and briefly considered the demand. ‘I’ll give you six more ships. But only for one month. That’s as long as I can spare them.’

    Cato considered the offer. Eight ships in all should be enough to deal with Ajax and his men, but the limited time was a problem. ‘One month might not be enough.’

    ‘That’s all you have. After that I want you and your men to join the command of the legate of the Twenty-Second at Diospolis Magna. I suggest you get moving, Prefect.’

CHAPTER SIX

    ‘ I t’s like hunting for a grain of sand in a sack of salt,’ Macro complained as he followed Cato and Hamedes along the strip of shingle towards a handful of beached fishing boats. ‘Bloody Ajax is all but invisible.’

    ‘We will find him,’ Cato replied evenly. ‘Whatever it takes.’

    ‘It’s not whatever that matters, but whenever. The month is almost up, Cato. If we don’t find him in the next five days we will have to give up the search.’

    ‘I am well aware of that, Centurion.’

    Macro pressed his lips together in a thin line. The failure to find Ajax had tested his friend sorely, and Cato had recently developed a strategy of referring to Macro’s rank when he grew weary of discussion or did not want to be contradicted. So they continued in silence walking steadily down the beach towards the fishermen, who were absorbed in the task of plucking the writhing silver fish from their nets and tossing them into baskets. Hamedes went first, ready to speak to the natives in their own tongue and reassure them that the three of them posed no threat. The priest had willingly volunteered to join the hunt when Cato had asked him to act as their guide and translator. The temple at Keirkut had been his life. Recruited to the priesthood when barely a child, it was the only family he had ever known and the desire for revenge burned in his veins.

    Cato and Macro wore only their tunics and belts, with the dagger scabbards tucked out of sight behind their backs. Hamedes wore the simple flowing robe of the fellahin. The fishing boats had been sighted by one of the skiffs that Cato had sent in to patrol the Mendesian