Gladiator Clash (Time Hunters, Book 1) (10 page)

When Tom opened his eyes again, all traces of the animals' quarters and the Roman Coliseum were gone. He was back in his bedroom. He looked over at Isis and Cleo. They'd made it back safely as well, but they were in their mummy's bandages again.

Isis examined her wrappings. “It's nice not to be in chains any more,” she said, sighing. “But I'm not happy to see
these
grotty things again.”

Cleo jumped stiffly on to her lap and pawed at a piece of Isis's loose fabric.

“It's such a shame we only get to have our proper bodies back when we're on a quest!” Isis moaned.

Tom looked around the silent room. He ran his finger over the books on his bookshelf, his fossil collection and his knight figurines. He touched the monitor of his computer, which was still open on his search on Ancient Egypt.

“Feels weird to be back, doesn't it?” he said, glancing at his clock. “Anubis was right about the time though. Look!” he pointed to the glowing digital display. “Same time as when we left.”

Isis held up the amulet to the light and watched the magical jewel sparkle, scattering orange patterns on to the bedroom wall.

“It's so pretty,” she cooed, “And it would look so lovely in a necklace—”

“Don't even think about it!” said Tom.

Suddenly the floor shook, the light flickered, thunder rumbled and a strong wind sent Tom's curtains flapping.

“Oh, brilliant! Here we go again!” Tom muttered.

The door of Tom's wardrobe burst open. The huge figure of Anubis pushed Tom's school uniform aside and loomed from the gloom, his red eyes flashing and his arms crossed.

“Still haven't learned your lesson, Princess Isis?” the god growled.

Anubis flicked his tongue over his muzzle and eyed the glittering amulet greedily.

Tom watched as the god of the Underworld advanced out of the shadows. He was so tall that he could barely fit in Tom's room. Tom felt certain he was on a collision course with his lampshade.

“Mind out,” Tom said, pointing.

Anubis took two steps forward and –
kwang!
– he hit his head. “OW!” he said, rubbing his pointy ears. The jackal-headed god slapped the light angrily. “What is this sorcery?” he asked crossly.

Isis giggled. “It's not sorcery, its electricity,” she said smugly.

“You think you're clever, do you?” Anubis roared, blasting them with his meaty doggy breath.

“Yes, actually, we do,” Isis said.

“Well, a clever little girl would hand over that amulet right now – before I blast her straight back to Ancient Rome!” the furious god bellowed.

“Go on, Isis,” urged Tom.

“All right, all right,” said Isis, sulkily dropping the glowing amulet into the god's hand. “But I still think it would look much better on me.”

“ENOUGH!” raged Anubis. He circled the two children menacingly, as if deciding whether or not to tear their heads off. It made Tom feel almost homesick for the lions and alligator in the Roman animal enclosure. At least they were scared of Cleo, but now the terrified cat was hiding under Tom's bed, her bandaged paws covering her eyes.

Anubis leaned in towards Tom and Isis and growled, “You have found and recovered the first amulet. But your next challenge will be much, much harder. Your adventures in Ancient Rome will seem like a mere game.” He threw back his head and laughed wildly, showing his sharp teeth.

Then the ground shook and the god of the Underworld disappeared with a small explosion that left a corner of Tom's new carpet with a burned patch.

“My mum is really not going to be pleased about that,” said Tom gloomily, sniffing the acrid air and kicking at the mark.

Isis stiffly leaned back on Tom's bed. Her joints made a horrible cracking noise. A piece of her little finger fell off, landing on the carpet.

“Or that,” said Tom, handing Isis her finger and brushing away the pile of dust it left behind.

Isis jammed the finger back on her hand hastily. “I'm soooo tired,” she said, lying down flat on her back with her hands crossed over her chest. Cleo curled up beside her. Within moments, both cat and princess were snoring so loudly that Tom wondered for a moment if Anubis had conjured up a small earthquake in the room.

“I guess that's what you call sleeping like the dead,” Tom said. “That's fine. Don't worry about me. I'll just try to get some rest on my burned carpet, shall I?”

Tom shuffled on the floor. He was struggling to get comfortable.

Come on, Tom,
he told himself
. You slept on a stone floor for days, with another slave's toes practically stuffed up your nostrils! This is like a palace by comparison.

In the quiet and comforting dark of his room, Tom thought about his Roman adventure. He had trained to fight as a gladiator! How exciting was that?

He remembered the heavy feel of the swords in his hands and the roar of the crowd.
For a moment there, I almost had Hilarus.

Tom smiled at the moon that shone through a chink in his curtains. As sleep started to take him, he thought of the gladiator's boring breakfast of dried fruit and porridge. Wrinkling his nose, he imagined eggs, bacon and baked beans instead.

Five more amulets to find
, he pondered.
I wonder where our next adventure will be?
Maybe they would go to Ancient Greece or Ancient Egypt, or even back to medieval times…

He opened one eye and peered through the gloom at the sleeping forms of Isis and Cleo. Tom knew one thing for sure – with the undead mummies of an Egyptian princess and her cat around, life certainly wasn't going to be boring!

Hilarus was actually a
real
gladiator! Find out more about him and other fearsome fighters.

HILARUS
was a slave who belonged to a troupe of gladiators owned by the Emperor Nero. He won 13 wreathes for his victories, making him one of Ancient Rome's most successful fighters. He was eventually defeated by a novice gladiator named Marcus Attilius. However, Hilarus fought so bravely in their fight that he was spared death and given his freedom.

SPARTACUS
was probably the most famous gladiator who ever lived. He became a slave as punishment for running away from the Roman army and was forced to fight as a gladiator.

In 73 BC, Spartacus ran away again.For two years, he and an army of slaves fought off the much-bigger Roman army. Eventually, Spartacus was captured and killed but he is remembered as askilled military leader.

FLAMMA
, meaning ‘The Flame', was a slave from Syria who fought as a secatur. During his life, he won 21 battles and drew 9 times.

The most amazing thing about Flamma is that he was offered his freedom four times, but each time he chose to remain a gladiator and keep fighting because he liked the attention so much! He died aged 30 in his 34th fight. Maybe he should have retired!

EMPEROR COMMODUS
ruled Rome between AD 180 – 192 but also enjoyed fighting as a gladiator. He especially liked fighting wild animals and is said to have killed 100 lions in one day!

Emperor Commodus was quite a show-off. Underneath a giant statue of himself he wrote that he had defeated 12,000 men! Someof his successwas probably because he was the emperor and his opponents were scared to defeat him.

The Ancient Roman army was incredibly successful and conquered countries as far away as England and Egypt. Roman soldiers were trained to be efficient killers, helped by their deadly weapons and awesome armour.

Gladius:
a sword used by Roman foot soldiers; it had a double-edged blade with a sharp tip. It could be deadly for attacks at close range.

Pillum:
a heavy javelin-like weapon carried by everyone in the Roman military.

Onager:
a type of catapult used to throw stones and arrows across enemy lines.