Wrath of Rome (Book Two of the Dominium Dei Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

you sure you don’t want to skip this excursion?”
    This time it was the centurion who had come to converse in private with him.
    “Now why would I want to do that, Centurion?”
    “My men are anxious to get to Ephesus. And the oarsmen, sailors and marines aboard are anxious. They don’t like the thought of anchoring off an island prison.”
    “Perhaps they’ve done something to merit such fears?”
    “Nothing, Tribune. Nothing at all. But you know men of the sea. They are a superstitious lot. The end of the world was revealed on this island.”
    “Only if you’re superstitious, Centurion. I am not. Tell the captain to take us in, or prepare to explain to Caesar why you chose to defy the will of Rome.”
    “At your orders, Tribune,” he said and left quickly.
    •    •    •
    The Pegasus was too big a ship for the tiny harbor, so it had to anchor some ways off in deeper waters. The centurion and two officers took Athanasius in on a smaller boat. On the way in, Athanasius couldn’t help but notice another ship, rather sizable but small enough to anchor in the harbor. The name painted on the stern was Sea Nymph, and it flew an Egyptian flag. It had the forecastle and stern house for dignitaries, but only one row of oars to support the sails. Something about it seemed off.
    The centurion must have seen him staring. “A floating opium den and whorehouse from Alexandria, here to entertain the garrison. Our timing was fortunate.”
    Indeed, it was. Athanasius could use such a distraction with the garrison while he extricated John. The oarsmen of his little boat seemed to put their backs into it, eager to reach the island now that it offered more than prisoners and prophets of doom.
    “Your men will have to wait until Ephesus, Centurion. I won’t be long. We have a prisoner to transfer.”
    Athanasius could feel the wind taken out of his two rowers, their disappointment palpable. “Such is life,” he told them sternly, knowing it all too well.
    The officers tied up in the harbor, and Athanasius and the centurion headed up the stone quay, passing the whitewashed barracks toward the square, where there was some commotion.
    Athanasius reached the edge of the square and saw a prisoner tied to a post, surrounded by a small group of soldiers. The island’s commanding officer—and de facto prison warden—was dressed in full regalia, minus a helmet, perhaps to impress the whores watching from the deck of their ship.
    The commander snapped a long whip on the prisoner’s battered back, leaving a deep red stripe among several others. The prisoner screamed in agony. The soldiers jeered. It appeared to Athanasius this was something of an entertainment between the rounds of real fun aboard the floating pleasure barge.
    “Commander?” Athanasius asked aloud.
    “Sextus Calpurnius Barbatio,” the commander said, irked by this break in his rhythm. Then seeing the tribune rankings, Barbatio snapped to attention. “Tribune, sir. To what do we owe this visit? Surely you must understand that my men get first priority with the Sea Nymph. Your men will have to wait their turn. I’m sure you’ll understand.”
    Athanasius wordlessly handed over his imperial order with Caesar’s seal to the commander, who gave it a glance and then, apparently due to poor eyesight, handed it to his aide to read to him. The aide did so in a low voice as Barbatio listened with a stone face.
    Barbatio said, “How can we assist the tribune?”
    “I’m here to interrogate the last apostle John.”
    There was silence in the square. Even the wailing prisoner stopped his cries.
    “You will find the threat of physical torture and death useless on the old man,” Barbatio finally said. “Even my own psychological efforts have failed thus far.”
    “And what are those?”
    “We learned the whip does not work on the apostle, so we use it on the other prisoners every night before supper. Then I visit John to confess my evil and demand his