Connor slammed his palm against the steering wheel, horn blaring as he expressed his fury at the slow driver in front of him. Swerving around the Toyota, he put his impatient foot down, and roared along the A58.

Once clear of traffic, he eased up a little, realising the redundancy of his need for speed; why rush to gain a few minutes to get to a place from where he would travel back in time nearly two millennia?

Connor snorted at his own stupidity, but couldn't suppress the rising excitement for what was to come – the desperate need to get back as quickly has he could, to fulfil his darkest fantasy.

His eyes flicked to the leather bag on the passenger seat. The signing bonus and advance payment for Bloodbath had hit his bank: enough cash to buy up a lot of ancient coins.

Connor estimated he had more than enough to buy a half-decent slave, maybe even a good-looking one.

He'd spoken to Claudius, who was willing to vouch for him at the market. A lot of traders were unwilling to deal with peregrini, and having the governor with him would be advantageous – both in setting the price and quality of his purchase.

He'd also agreed that Claudius would be guest of honour at the fun he'd planned. Teasing the Roman with promises of unimagined delights: things he had never thought possible to inflict on another human being (even though this one would be mere property).

A 'festival of pain' was how Connor had referred to his plans – and today was the day!

On the banks of the River Dee the markets were bustling, Claudius was well into his cups when Connor arrived. His new friend kissed him drunkenly, keen for the festivities to begin.

Connor drooled at the choices, eventually settling on a young Egyptian. Self-consciously trying to look like he knew what he was doing when the trader encouraged him to properly inspect the quality of his goods.

Claudius stepped in, using his status to haggle, promising the man there would be many more purchases if he offered his best price.

The deal done, Connor reached for his purse, counting out the unfamiliar coins onto the trader's money table.

Claudius interrupted the proceedings. His eye had been caught by a golden coin.

He held the disc up to the sunlight, studying the embossed design. A frown crossed his face.

He passed the coin to his secretary, whispering in rapid fire Latin. The coin was turned over and studied by both with an increasingly puzzled and angry exchange.

Claudius took the chained hands of the purchased slave, passing the boy roughly back to the trader.

'There will be no transaction today, not with this scoundrel!'

Connor was confused: had he violated some form of etiquette? He begged Claudius to explain the problem.

'The problem? The problem, my friend is you have taken us for idiots! Tried to defraud this honest trader and, more importantly, have committed an act of deceit against your governor. An act I can only judge as treasonous!'

Connor was stunned. What had made Claudius so irate? Again, he begged for an answer, a way to explain any offence.

'Take this criminal away from my sight. As governor of this province, I pronounce him guilty of fraud, guilty of counterfeiting, and guilty of treason against Rome!'

Claudius held up the golden coin for the crowd that had gathered.

'Not only is this man a vile criminal, but he is also as stupid as pig dung! Behold, he attempts to pay the good merchant with miraculous coins! I pronounce this fool guilty and sentence him to death. Take him away.'

The crowd cheered as Connor was hauled off, still wondering what the hell had gone wrong.

Claudius turned the coin in his fingers, shaking his head at the forger's stupidity.

The coin, depicting the head of someone called Leo IV, and a cross (for some bizarre reason), but the glaring error, perhaps due to the dolt's poor grasp of the language, was the date stamp. . . a date 600 years hence!

He flicked the disc into the Dee, but the cross on it had given him an idea of what fate should befall the fraudster, after all, Connor had promised him a festival of pain!

FWR

05.08.24 Front Page

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