The Secrets of Vesuvius scroll I :: The Roman Mysteries

The Secrets of Vesuvius
Scroll I

'Jonathan, look out!' screamed Flavia Gemina.

Jonathan ben Mordecai - hip deep in the blue Tyrrhenian sea - didn't see the horrible creature rising out of the water behind him.

'Arrrgh!' The sea monster seized Jonathan round the waist.

'Aiieeee!' cried Jonathan. But his scream was cut off as he was pulled under, and salt water filled his mouth and nostrils. A moment later the surface of the water sparkled peacefully under the hot summer sun. Flavia and her slave-girl Nubia stared in horror.

Suddenly Jonathan shot up again in an explosion of spray and foam, gasping for air. He spat out a mouthful of seawater.

'Lupus, you fool, I could have drowned!'

Another figure popped up out of the water beside him, laughing hard. It was Lupus the sea monster, naked as an eel. Although Lupus was only eight years old, Flavia squealed at the sight of his nakedness and shut her eyes. She heard Lupus splash through the waves onto the beach.

When she thought it was safe to look, Flavia opened one eye.

Lupus was tying the cord belt of his tunic.

Flavia opened the other eye.

Jonathan was creeping up behind Lupus with a large scoop of wet sand in one hand. Before he could drop the sand down the back of Lupus's tunic, the younger boy spun round and tackled Jonathan. They fell onto the sand, where they rolled around like a pair of wrestlers in the palaestra.

Finally Jonathan, who was older and bigger, ended up on top. He straddled Lupus's waist and held the younger boy's wrists hard against the hot sand. Lupus struggled and strained, but although he was strong and wiry, he couldn't budge Jonathan.

'Ha!' crowed Jonathan. 'The warrior Achilles has overpowered the fierce sea monster. Beg for mercy. Go on. Say pax!'

Flavia sighed and rolled her eyes.

'Jonathan, you know Lupus can't speak. He doesn't hava a tongue. How can he beg for mercy? Let him go.'

'No,' insisted Jonathan. 'No mercy until he begs for it. Do you want mercy?'

Lupus's green eyes blazed. He shook his head defiantly as he tried to struggle free.

'Then you will receive the punishment!' Jonathan let a glob of foamy saliva emerge from his mouth. It hung over Lupus's face.

Lupus looked up in alarm at the dangling spit. Flavia and Nubia squealed.

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