The Furies of Rome Read Online Free

quickly; tonight in fact.’ Sabinus nodded to Blaesus.
    ‘Beauty!’ Blaesus shouted in a commanding voice. ‘Put the bone down.’
    The monster growled deep and long, as he, with obvious reluctance, complied with his master’s will.
    ‘He’ll start getting hungry soon if he’s not allowed to gnaw on his bone,’ Sabinus observed to Venutius, who looked sidelong at the hair-covered thing in the corner, concern showing in his expression.
    A couple more growls caused Venutius to glance at Sabinus before looking back at Beauty. ‘No one financed my rebellion, it was my own money. It was after my bitch of a wife, Cartimandua, replaced me as her consort with that upstart, Vellocatus, I decided to have my revenge and remove her; which I did with pleasure.’
    ‘But it cost a lot of money to raise so many warriors and to keep them with you; and then taking on the survivors of Cartimandua’s army was yet more expense.’
    Beauty growled again and let out a reverberating fart as he got to his feet, slavering at Venutius.
    Venutius spoke quickly: ‘I found Cartimandua’s hoard, there was plenty in it; all freshly minted silver denarii – tens of thousands of them – as well as hundreds, perhaps thousands of gold aurei.’
    ‘Roman coinage that you then used to rebel against Rome,’ Sabinus observed as Beauty began to lumber across the room.
    Venutius’ face now registered an unusual thing to see in the expression of a Britannic chieftain: fear. ‘I couldn’t stop once I defeated Cartimandua. My men were stirred up to it by the druids; Myrddin, the chief druid of all Britannia, came amongst us. To keep my position I had to lead a rebellion against Roman rule.’ Venutius started to back away from Beauty, who glanced over to his master for reassurance that he was, indeed, doing what was expected of him.
    Blaesus smiled, inclining his head at his pet to encourage him.
    Venutius now had his back to the wall; Beauty, snarls grinding in his throat, was almost upon him. ‘I didn’t have any choice.’
    ‘Yes you did; you could have fled here to Rome, to your benefactor, and thrown yourself at the mercy of the Emperor. Instead you used all that newly minted money against the Emperor and now you try to blame the druids.’
    With a surprisingly agile bounce, Beauty pounced on the Britannic chieftain, his snarl turning into a hunger-fired roar. Venutius screamed as he was thrown flat on his back with the monster astride him, clawing at his chest.
    Sabinus got to his feet and stood over the scene from which nightmares are woven, his face unmoved by the potential horror. ‘So where did that money come from?’
    ‘It was a loan!’ Venutius screamed as Beauty’s jaws opened, teeth honed by bone, and his head dropped towards him.
    ‘And your wife’s?’
    ‘The same; now call this thing off!’
    With a guttural rumble of satisfaction, Beauty clamped his teeth into the muscular flesh of Venutius’ pectoral and, shaking his head like a beast at its prey, began to rip at it.
    With cries that would have disturbed the peace of Hades, Venutius howled for mercy, sobbing with the terror of being devoured by a thing. As Beauty’s jaws worked, so did Venutius’ shrieks increase, his fists beating uselessly on the beast’s furred back and head, his eyes looking up at Sabinus, pleading.
    ‘Who gave you and your wife your loans?’ Sabinus asked with an enquiring furrowing of his brow.
    Beauty wrenched his head back and blood arced above it, black drops in dim light.
    Venutius stared in horror at the lump of dripping meat dangling from the hideous, masticating jaws. His eyes rolled as he watched Beauty chewing on his own precious flesh; then he screamed once, even louder than previously: ‘Seneca!’



CHAPTER I
    S HE WAS DYING; there was no doubt about it in Vespasian’s mind as he looked down at his mother, Vespasia Polla. Late afternoon light, seeping through the narrow window above her bed, illumined the small bedroom, simply