The Gates of Rome
The astonishing life of Julius Caesar is recreated in a magnificent novel that brilliantly interweaves history and adventure.Emperor: The Gates of Rome is an epic tale of ambition and rivalry, bravery and betrayal, from an outstanding voice in historical fiction.From the spectacle of gladiatorial combat to the intrigue of the Senate, from the foreign wars that created an empire to the betrayals that almost tore it apart, the Emperor novels tell the remarkable story of the man who would become the greatest Roman of them all: Julius Caesar.Brilliantly interweaving history and adventure, The Gates of Rome introduces an ambitious young man facing his first great test. In the city of Rome, a titanic power struggle is about to shake the Republic to its core. Citizen will fight citizen in a bloody conflict – and Julius Caesar will be in the thick of the action.
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EMPEROR THE GATES OF ROME
CONN IGGULDEN
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2003
Copyright © Conn Iggulden 2003
Conn Iggulden asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007437122
Ebook Edition © December 2013 ISBN: 9780007321759
Version: 2017-05-20
To my son Cameron and to my brother Hal,the other member of the Black Cat Club
Contents
The track in the woods was a wide causeway to the two boys strolling down it. Both were so dirty with thick, black mud as to be almost unrecognisable as human. The taller of the two had blue eyes that seemed unnaturally bright against the cracking, itching mud that plastered him.
âWeâre going to be killed for this, Marcus,â he said, grinning. In his hand, a sling spun lazily, held taut with the weight of a smooth river pebble.
âYour fault, Gaius, for pushing me in. I told you the river bed wasnât dry all the way.â
As he spoke, the shorter boy laughed and shoved his friend into the bushes that lined the path. He whooped and ran as Gaius scrambled out and set off in pursuit, sling whirring in a disc.
âBattle!â he shouted in his high, unbroken voice.
The beating they would get at home for ruining their tunics was far away and both boys knew every trick to get out of trouble â all that mattered was charging through the woodland paths at high speed, scaring birds. Both boys were barefoot, already with calluses developing, despite not having seen more than eight summers.
âThis time, Iâll catch him,â Gaius panted to himself as he ran. It was a mystery to him how Marcus, who had the same number of legs and arms, could yet somehow make them move faster than he could. In fact, as he was shorter, his stride should have been a little less, surely?
The leaves whipped by him, stinging his bare arms. He could hear Marcus taunting him up ahead, close. Gaius showed his teeth as his lungs began to hurt.
Without warning, he broke into a clearing at full pelt and skidded to a sudden, shocked stop. Marcus was lying on the ground, trying to sit up and holding his head in his right hand. Three men â no, older boys â were standing there, carrying walking staffs.
Gaius groaned as he took in his surroundings. The chase had carried the two boys off his fatherâs small estate and into their neighboursâ part of the woods. He should have recognised the track that marked the boundary, but heâd been too caught up in catching Marcus for once.
âWhat do we have here? A couple of little mudfish, crawled up out of the river!â
It was Suetonius who spoke, the eldest son of the neighbouring estate. He was fourteen and killing time before he went into the army. He had the sort of trained muscles the two younger boys hadnât begun to develop. He had a mop of blond hair over a face speckled with white-headed eruptions that covered his cheeks and forehead, with a sprinkling of angry-looking red ones disappearing under his praetexta tunic. He also had a long straight stick, friends to impress and an afternoon to while away.
Gaius was frightened, knowing he was out of his depth. He and Marcus were trespassing â the best they could expect was a few blows, the worst was a beating with broken bones. He glanced at Marcus and saw him try to stagger to his feet. Heâd obviously been belted with something as he ran into the older boys.
