Chapter 10
The Roman guards stationed around the amphitheater perimeter immediately abandoned their posts, swarming toward the stairwells leading to the upper gallery. Heavy boots thundered against the stone steps, a tidal wave of steel and leather converging rapidly on Julian and Cassian's position.
"They're coming," Julian said, his voice entirely devoid of panic. He drew his broadsword with his right hand, keeping the incriminating scrolls clutched tightly in his left.
"Drop the scrolls into the crowd, Julian!" Cassian urged, gasping for breath as he leaned against the stone balustrade. "Let them take the physical proof. Once the people hold the evidence, the magistrates can never hide it again."
Julian did not hesitate. He rolled up the primary ledger of grain thefts and hurled it outward into the dense packing of the lower spectator tiers. A dozen hands shot up into the air, catching the parchment bundle and passing it frantically from person to person below. He threw the remaining scrolls into different sections of the crowd, ensuring the evidence was thoroughly distributed across the stadium before the guards could intervene.
Heavy wooden doors at the end of the gallery burst open, and a dozen heavily armed guards poured onto the narrow walkway, their shields locked in a defensive phalanx, swords drawn and glinting wickedly in the torchlight.
"Halt in the name of the Senate!" the centurion leading the squad bellowed, stepping forward with his spear leveled at Julian’s chest.
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Julian planted his feet firmly on the stone flooring, holding his broadsword across his body in a classic defensive stance. He was vastly outnumbered, but the tight quarters of the narrow parapet neutralized the guards' numerical advantage, forcing them to attack in single file.
With a low, controlled growl, Julian lunged forward, parrying the centurion’s initial spear thrust with a violent sweep of his heavy blade. The force of the strike shattered the wooden shaft of the spear, sending the startled guard stumbling backward into his comrades. Julian spun smoothly, using the flat of his sword to knock shields aside without inflicting fatal wounds, maintaining his strict code of restraint even in the heat of battle.
