The Gladiator Prince (21 page)

The officer took a step toward him, keeping his hand on his sword and spoke to the Greek. Stepping back out of swords reach, Adrastos pulled down the collar of his tunic, exposing the black tattoo, and all the soldiers turned to stare. The commander reached for his sword, but Adrastos had mounted his horse in one leap and goaded it into a run down the wharf. When the soldiers and dogs followed him, he cried above the crowd, “ ¬¼µ ÃÄ·½ µ¹Á®½· ÇÉÁ¯Â µ¼½±!” and disappeared into the throng.

“Adrastos!” Thane whirled to Phaedra. “What did he say?” he demanded.

Phaedra watched after the medico, and Thane’s words did not reach her at first. He shook her leg, and she stared down at him. “He said to go in peace… without him.”

Thane stood in the middle of the crowd looking after Adrastos without moving for a long time. He finally tilted his head and took a breath all the way down.

“Come.” He reached up for Phaedra and helped her off the horse, taking the pack from its rump and handing it to her. She staggered under the weight, but soon had it under control. When he reached to help Bahar, the boy slapped away his hands and managed to get down on his own without a sound, although Phaedra had seen the grimace on his face.

Thane untied the larger pack from his own horse and slipped it over his shoulders.

Grabbing Phaedra’s hand, he pulled her toward the ship, but she planted her feet.

“We cannot leave him!” she cried.

Thane turned around, but his lips were tight. “If we miss this ship, I cannot get to Rome to save my children,” he answered. “I will not leave you here, not now. So either move on your own, or I will carry you.”

“Thane,” Bahar began, but the gladiator gave him a stern frown.

“Adrastos sacrificed himself to help us. I will not let that sacrifice be in vain.”

Phaedra nodded up at him, and he led her to the plank where the rest of the crowd was now heading. A mate on the ship was checking the parchments of each.

When they had climbed about halfway up the plank, Phaedra looked behind her to see if she could see any sign of Adrastos. The crowd had swallowed him up.

Thane tapped her shoulder, and she turned to go up the plank, but something caught her eye.

A flag unfurled in a sudden gust of wind on the strange Egyptian galley bobbing next to them in the harbor. Outlined in black was a fierce representation of a lion’s head on a crimson field. It was identical to the one Phaedra had seen on Hasani’s robe. She turned her head to search over the sea of people packed into the bustling port. Whether it was real or fancy, she thought for a flash of moment she saw Hasani riding tall and proud on a black horse, but the vision vanished, and she could not get it back.

Scurrying as fast as her legs could carry her, Phaedra ran up the plank to catch up with Thane and Bahar, her heart pounding in her chest.

“What is wrong?” Thane asked her, looking over her head.

“I thought…” Then it all seemed so silly to her. “Nothing.” She turned her head for one more glance, but the apparition was gone. “It was nothing.”

Chapter XXII

Thane watched Phaedra enter the tent they had set up on the deck. A twinge of lust hardened him for a moment, but he resisted the urge and turned away to lean against the railing.

“She’s a fine looking woman.” The captain’s Greek lyrical Latin was very thick, and Thane had to listen carefully.

Thane turned his eyes to the heavens, taking in the veil of cold stars smeared across the blackness of night. “I suppose,” he replied simply.

The captain did not reply, but rather turned to stare at the stars with Thane.

They had been on the ship for nearly three weeks now, the first few days a nightmare for all of them. Seasickness had set in as soon as they came out of the river onto the ocean. Thane, who had been on many sea voyages, caught the worst of it as he always did. His Achilles Heel, he had to admit. It was fortunate they did not have gladiatorial events at sea.

Phaedra tried to help him, but he was essentially oblivious to her ministrations. She not only had to deal with his sickness, but Bahar had taken a turn for the worst; his wounds had started to fester, and Phaedra had just what Adrastos managed to throw into the pack before they sold the wagon. It was precious little, but Phaedra finally got it under control. Bahar’s fever broke the night before. Thane marveled at the unexpected strength of this young woman. She slept little and ate less until both of them were on the mend. He had volunteered many times to tend to Bahar when the worst of his seasickness passed, but she had quietly refused, telling him she could manage.

Right now, she was changing Bahar’s wrapping. Thane had ordered her to stay in the tent and get some sleep. Trying to avoid her, Thane had been sleeping with the crew on the deck under the night sky.

A flash of light caught his eye somewhere on the horizon behind them. He stood away from the railing and focused on the spot.

“What is it?” the captain asked.

“I do not know. I see a light behind us; it is bright.”

The captain squinted next to him. “Your eyes must be better than mine. I see nothing.”

“It is there.” Thane turned to look to the east. The sun threw a yellow-grey haze over the horizon.

The captain stiffened and called for his first mate. “How close?” he shot at Thane.

Thane looked again. “Less than a mile. Can you see it now?”

The captain leaned over the railing. “Yes.”

A tall dark mast appeared against the darker sky. Now distinct under it were the churning oars of a galley, its deck lighted by several lamps. There was no doubt where they were headed.

The captain ordered their own lamps extinguished and they blinked out almost immediately. At urgent orders the crew came alive to move the tiller thirty degrees to port, unfurl the sail, and man the ropes.

“What is it, captain?” Thane asked when he rushed past.

The captain rubbed his face and glanced at the other ship. “Pirates, more than likely. You better get your servants and stow yourself below with the freight,” he said quickly then disappeared.

Thane was lost among the scurrying crew, so headed for the tent. Twice a rushing sailor bumped him and he swore. His mind raced. Where would he hide them? He had no doubt what pirates would do to Phaedra and possibly even Bahar. They were ruthless cutthroats who had the rutting habits of a mongrel. If they were lucky, the pirates would take whatever was in the hull of the ship and enslave all of them. It depended on how much space they had in their own hulls. Pirates, as a rule, scuttled any ships they captured unless it was something they could use. They did not need merchant ships; they were bulky and slow, the opposite of the fast sleek galleys they preferred. If they were full, the men on the merchant would suffer the same fate as their ship. In the back of Thane’s mind, he knew Phaedra was relatively safe; she was much too valuable to scuttle.

Getting to the tent, he was surprised to see it lighted from inside; they should both be asleep. Pulling back the flap, he ducked inside, an order to put out the light on his lips. What he saw washed the words out of his mouth.

Even though Bahar tried to cover up quickly, it was too late. Two pairs of shocked eyes looked up at him. Phaedra had apparently been applying the last of the salve for Bahar sat naked from the waist up. Thane’s heart stopped in his chest, the sight burned against the inside of his eyes. He could not get the incongruity out of his head. The boy he had trained, had worked with for two years, had been his friend and confidante, was not a boy at all.

Bahar was a woman.

Chapter XXIII

All the wind went out of Phaedra’s lungs when she saw Thane framed in the tent opening. The jar of salve slipped from her fingers, thudding against the blankets surrounding Bahar’s lap. Bahar had covered herself, but Phaedra knew that Thane had seen. Their eyes locked, and the pain she read there was too much. In an instant, he was gone.

“No!” screamed Bahar, covering her face. Phaedra grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard.

“Stop!” Her voice sounded hysterical in her ears, but she did not care. He had seen. He knew. What would he do?

Phaedra squeezed her eyes tight and put her fists against them to get her terror under control. Bahar’s horrified eyes were enough to get her moving.

A numb resolve settled against Phaedra’s shoulders. It was as if she knew this would happen, as if she hoped it would. He knew. Thane knew. Their secret had been taken from them just as her virginity had. A twinge twisted her stomach, but she forced it down.

Touching Bahar’s hair gently, she felt the last of her innocence leak into the cold air. Now there was only Bahar to protect, and she would do it with her life, if she had to.

Shouts from outside the tent seeped into her shocked brain, and she looked toward the entrance.

“Get up,” she said abruptly. Bahar lifted swollen eyes to her, but nodded quickly and got the tears under control. “Bind yourself and get dressed. Something is happening.”

Bahar grabbed the wide binding strap Phaedra had ordered for her in Rome when her breasts began to show last year and, on her own, began to bind them.

Phaedra stood up and followed Thane out of the tent entrance.

There were only twenty slaves and the captain on the ship, but they moved and acted as if there were a hundred. Orders in Latin, Greek and one or two other languages Phaedra did not understand echoed back and forth, from the elaborate cabin built on the deck at the back of the ship to the intricately curved head at the front.

She dodged several men as they ran past and spotted Thane standing alone at the stern. Bolstering her pride, she rushed to him.

When he saw her, he tried to go, but she grabbed his arm. He stopped, but would not look at her.

“You do not understand…” Phaedra shouted above the din of voices, but Thane whirled around and yanked his arm away from her. The accusation in his eyes stung her.

“You lied to me.” His words were harsh, strained, as if he could not talk. “Both of you.” Flaring his nostrils, he took a menacing step toward her and grabbed her arms. “Why?”

Phaedra swallowed, but made no attempt to retrieve her arms. “To save her life.” The words sounded tinny in her ears.

Thane pushed her back, and she landed painfully against the railing. The ship suddenly lurched forward, and Phaedra shifted her attention to the active crew. Over her head, the sails snapped against the dark sky swollen with wind. Glancing to the back of the ship, she spotted the galley, the intricate white lion’s claw at the front highlighted now by the rising sun at her back. Her heart stopped. She knew that ship. Propelled by the flying oars it surged forward. It was close, but the merchant galley pulled away from it.

“What is happening?”

Thane said nothing, sweeping by her to help a sailor with one of the riggings. When he was done, he turned to her. “Come with me.” Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the tall cabin at the back of the ship. Without slowing, he yanked on the door and propelled her inside, then followed her in and closed the door.

Lighting a lamp with a flint, he pointed to the looming amphorae lining one wall. “You hide in here behind those.”

“Thane, please let me…”

“Behind the amphorae!” he spat, holding his anger tightly. “Do you understand?”

Ire stiffened Phaedra’s back, and she was suddenly furious. Her eyes widened and a kind of calm waved through her. “You need to listen to me.”

“No,” he said abruptly and turned for the door.

“You owe me that.”

The words stopped him, and he bowed his head without turning around. She did nothing while he stood silent giving him the time he needed, knowing that the next few minutes would forge their relationship, one way, or the other. He had violated something much deeper than her virginity; he had to know the reason why.

Thane’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. He twisted around slowly without looking at her and leaned his back against a stack of barrels. Folding his arms, he turned only his face to her. His eyes gleamed. “I am listening.”

Now that the moment arrived, Phaedra had problems forcing the words to her lips. She sat on a small amphora next to him, staring at the sacks of wheat piled in front of them.

“The deception was born as Bahar was,” she started. “But the reason started months before that.

“Mother was the daughter of a Roman who skirted proper society in Rome. He was an ex-Praetorian guard who had been suspected of participation in the assassination of Germania. Nothing was ever proven, but the stigma of that status clung to his family.

“At eighteen summers, my mother was promised to a young, ambitious Syrian, but only because my grandfather could find no other house to take her. For the honor of her family, she obeyed and married Abella in Rome where he had made a name for himself in the circle of arena managers. I was born a year after their marriage.