Chapter 18

A guard rapped hard on the door of the small room containing Lukas and Longus, the last Christians in the original group still alive. The other young man, the one who stood up first to Rusticus, had been beaten to death within hours of the trial. The lone woman had been sold into slavery. Rachel had vanished. As far as they knew, she had succumbed to her injuries, although she would have been kept in a separate facility, one where guards would have unfettered access to her.

Longus and Lukas were joined by Cinna, a young man from Rome who had been condemned for joining the Christians. In a raid on a small church, Cinna had been the sole survivor.

The others were to have been killed immediately as well, but for events in the palace. Emperor Nerva had taken ill. As a result, Trajan now ran most everything. Remaining executions had been placed on hold so that prisoners would be available for the bloody festivities to mark the day when the Trajan officially became Emperor.