Battle With the Britons! Read online

  overconfident and try for an early win.

  Ha, ha, ha!

  Look at

  you being all

  cautious!

  Where’s

  this

  CHAMPION

  I’ve heard

  about?

  Think

  about what

  you’re doing,

  Brutus!

  Once you’ve

  served your

  purpose, the

  Romans will

  drop you

  like a stone!

  Brutus predictably went for the kill, slashing and

  bashing away at Julius’s shield, but Julius held his

  ground.

  From behind his shield, as powerful blows rained

  down on him, Julius tried to reason with his errant

  brother.

  I know what

  you’re like!

  K

  L

  A

  N

  G

  !

  Such a

  GRUMP!

  You must

  have done

  something

  to upset

  them!

  “I’m not YOU, Brother!” cried Brutus as he twirled

  in the air, showing off his new sword skills. “I’VE

  been promised a huge villa in the hills of Rome when

  I thrash you!”

  Julius pushed out with his shield, causing Brutus to

  stumble.

  “They promised me MY FREEDOM!” he cried.

  “And look where that got me!”

  Brutus paused for a second, taking in what his

  brother had just said, but he immediately put it out of

  his mind.

  I’m not

  listening!

  Julius let out a big sigh. “Well, I tried my best,” he

  said.

  Brutus hung back, confused. “What do you mean,

  you tried your best?”

  “No, Brutus! They will chew you up and spit you

  out! Come with us. Help win our freedom and the

  freedom of ALL these barbarian Britons! You know

  I’m right!”

  D

  o

  n

  ’t

  sa

  y

  I

  d

  id

  n

  ’t

  w

  a

  rn

  y

  o

  u

  !

  K

  L

  O

  N

  K

  !

  In the royal box, Hadrian was livid with fury. This

  was NOT the outcome he’d been promised!

  Julius didn’t give him time to think. He leaped into

  a somersault, landed behind his bewildered brother,

  and smacked him across the back of the head,

  knocking him out cold.

  S

  e

  iz

  e

  h

  im

  !

  S

  E

  IZ

  E

  T

  H

  E

  T

  R

  A

  IT

  O

  R

  O

  U

  S

  Z

  E

  B

  R

  A

  !

  Hadrian’s guards grabbed Julius as the emperor

  raged in his box. “SEIZE THE OTHER BEASTS,

  TOO! DON’T LET ANY OF THEM ESCAPE!”

  As Julius was being dragged away, one of Hadrian’s

  soldiers approached the royal box. “Caesar, the other

  animals are nowhere to be seen!”

  “NOWHERE?” cried Hadrian. “That’s ridiculous.

  Where were all my guards?”

  “Er . . .” The soldier coughed nervously. “Watching

  your gladiators, sir.”

  G

  A

  H

  !

  G

  e

  t

  o

  u

  t

  o

  f

  m

  y

  s

  ig

  h

  t

  !

  Yes, Caesar!

  Hail, Caesar!

  “WAIT! SOLDIER!” cried the emperor. “BRING

  ME MY SNAKES AND A WINE SACK! I will show

  these BEASTS that I will NOT BE TRIFLED

  WITH! Bring the zebra with you!”

  There you

  are, my

  pretties!

  He carefully picked up one of the snakes by the

  back of its neck, then gestured to one of the soldiers.

  “Open the bag and make the zebra stand in it!”

  At the bottom of the fort was a wide, fast-running,

  twisting river. “You are trouble, Zebra,” muttered

  Hadrian, “and there’s only one way we Romans deal

  with troublemakers.”

  Two soldiers ran up to the emperor and presented

  him with a large sack, a wooden box, and a pair of

  big leather gloves.

  Hadrian put on the gloves and opened the box.

  Keep still,

  Zebra!

  ACK!

  Julius tried to stay calm as the snakes wriggled

  around his hooves. “The people of Rome WON’T be

  happy when they discover what you’ve done with

  “HEY! What are you up to, YOU WEIRDO?” cried

  Julius.

  The two legionnaires wrestled poor Julius, his

  arms still tied behind his back, into the sack. Hadrian

  smiled as he dropped a squirming snake into the sack.

  The second snake was a little harder to get hold

  of, but Hadrian deftly grabbed it and released it into

  the sack.

  me!” he bluffed. “You have a fight on your hands

  here, and you’ll have one at home, too!”

  “Oh, get over yourself!” snapped Hadrian. “You’re

  not that important. Champion gladiators come and

  go like the wind.” He gestured to the soldiers. “Sew

  this windbag up!”

  The soldiers pulled the sack over Julius’s head and

  quickly stitched it up.

  “NOW THROW HIM IN THE RIVER, AND

  LET’S GET OUT OF HERE.”

  H

  e

  y

  !

  D

  o

  y

  o

  u

  m

  in

  d

  n

  o

  t

  s

  it

  t

  in

  g

  o

  n

  m

  e

  ?

  S

  o

  r

  r

  y

  !

  P

  le

  a

  s

  e

  d

  o

  n

  ’t

  b

  it

  e

  m

  e

  !

  Hiss!

  Julius tried not to panic. Although, to be fair, there

  was plenty to panic about. He was stuck in a sack

  with two venomous snakes, and they’d just been

  thrown into the river. He’d been in scrapes before,

  but this one was . . . well, scrapier.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  HE AIN’T HEAVY . . .

  Omigosh!

 
I am

  SUCH a

  big fan!

  “R-really . . . ?” stammered Julius.

  “Tell him, Annie. Tell him I’m a big fan!”

  “He’s a big fan! In fact, we’re BOTH big fans!

  Although Tybalt here has seen more of your fights in

  Rome than I have.”

  Julius decided that he would try to reason with the

  snakes. “Now, listen, guys, we’re in a bit of a tight

  situation here, so let’s try to not get too bitey, OK?”

  “Er, excuse me,” said the other snake. “Are you by

  any chance JULIUS Zebra?”

  “Um . . . why, yes, I am, actually,” replied Julius.

  “It’s AMAZING to see you so close up!” gushed

  Tybalt. “You’re normally so tiny and far away!”

  “Oh, well,” said Julius, getting all bashful, “I do

  hope I’m not a disappointment.” He brushed his

  mane with his hoof.

  “Sorry to be embarrassing,” said Annie, “but can

  we have your hoofprint?”

  Before Julius could answer, their sack suddenly

  jolted hard, and Julius and the snakes were thrown

  from one end to the other.

  Gasp!

  I still can’t believe I

  shared a sack with

  JULIUS ZEBRA!

  The

  greatest day

  of my life!

  And with a great thud, they landed on very hard

  ground.

  Outside the bag, Julius could hear a frantic voice.

  “PLEASE BE ALIVE! PLEASE BE ALIVE! I’VE

  BEEN SUCH AN IDIOT!”

  With a great rrrip, the top of the sack was pulled

  open, and Julius and the two snakes flopped onto the

  grass.

  Julius looked up to see his brother, Brutus. “Yes,

  you HAVE been an idiot,” he said.

  “YOU’RE ALIVE!” screamed Brutus. “The

  snakes didn’t kill you!”

  “Big fans of mine, apparently!” said Julius.

  OMIGOSH! Mom!

  I miss her SO much!

  She must

  be SO

  worried!

  Brutus gave Julius a big hug. “I’m so sorry, Julius.

  Once I saw what they were going to do to you, I

  knew those Romans were RASCALS, just like you

  said!”

  Julius let out a great big sigh. “So you didn’t figure

  that out after spending time with that jerk Victorius?”

  “OOH, no,” said Brutus. “He was AWESOME!

  We promised to keep in touch and everything. He

  HATED you, though. You really made him mad by

  beating him in front of thousands of people.”

  “He deserved it, the weasel,” said Julius.

  “I can’t believe how much you’ve changed, Julius!”

  said Brutus. “Mom would be SO proud of you!”

  W

  e

  ’v

  e

  co

  m

  e

  to

  re

  sc

  u

  e

  y

  o

  u

  !

  Woo-hoo!

  “AMAZING!” cried Julius. “Where did you get the

  chariot?”

  “These guys lent it to me!” said Lucia.

  Suddenly, something caught Brutus’s eye. On the

  horizon he spotted a chariot coming over the hill.

  “Hey, Julius, am I crazy, or is that a giraffe on the

  back of that chariot?”

  “RUFUS!” cried Julius. “And wait, that’s Lucia

  holding the reins!”

  Julius dashed out and waved frantically at the

  chariot. “LUCIA! WE’RE HERE!”

  Gasp!

  They want you to

  lead them against the

  Romans, Julius!

  “LEAD THEM?” Julius balked. “I didn’t say I’d

  LEAD them! I thought we’d just work together!”

  A great chorus of swords thumping against

  wooden shields reverberated across the valley.

  “Try telling THEM that!” Lucia chuckled.

  “Pericles, Berta, and Douglas followed us all the

  way up to the wall, gathering warriors as they went!”

  Are you

  ready to

  RUMBLE?

  Another chariot raced over, this one carrying

  Cornelius, Milus, Felix, and Pliny.

  “Sounds like you’ve made a name for yourself

  HERE, too, Zebra!” Pliny laughed.

  Lay down your

  arms, Zebra,

  and I will spare you

  and your friends!

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  BROTHERS IN ARMS

  Julius and the army of Britons approached the Roman

  fort.

  “How many of us are there?” asked Julius.

  “About two thousand,” replied Lucia.

  “EXCELLENT! There’s only a hundred of them.

  This will be easy.”

  Hadrian stood on the fort battlements.

  Come on! We’ve got

  them on the RUN!

  “They’re running away like big chickens!” cried

  Brutus as every last Roman soldier ran for his life.

  “Victory is OURS!” yelled Julius.

  “Did someone say something?” Julius asked

  Brutus. “I couldn’t quite hear over the ROAR of my

  ENORMOUS ARMY.” He thrust his hoof in the air

  and the horde of Britons charged against the fort.

  The wooden gates crashed open like rotten

  firewood as the barbarians poured into the courtyard.

  HOORAY!

  In the distance, Julius spotted Hadrian and

  Septimus speeding off in the emperor’s golden chariot.

  Julius plopped to the ground, exhausted. “They’ll

  be back, and in greater numbers,” he wheezed.

  We can

  FINALLY

  go home.

  “Aye,” rasped a familiar voice. “And we’ll be waiting

  for them.”

  “DOUGLAS!” cried Julius, leaping up. He grabbed

  his former opponent by the hoof. “Thank you for

  trusting me!”

  “You’ve given us hope, Zebra. Let’s see if we can’t

  kick these cockroaches out FOREVER!”

  Julius turned to his friends. “And we’re FREE!

  We’re ACTUALLY FREE!”

  Take on the

  Roman Empire

  it IS!

  “But what about the other animal gladiators?” said

  Brutus.

  “What do you mean?” asked Julius.

  “Hadrian is training DOZENS of captured animals

  from all around the empire. Maybe we should set

  them free, too.”

  Julius looked at his brother. “What, you mean we

  should take on ROME ITSELF?”

  “Maybe.” Brutus grinned. “Or you could go back

  to that stinky lake and drink the stinky water. It’s up

  to YOU!”

  EPILOGUE

  At Ludus Magnus, Rome’s biggest gladiator school

  and home to the city’s gladiator champions, the past

  few months had seen many changes — most not

  welcome to the veteran fighters.

  Julius Zebra’s success had prompted Hadrian to

  demand MORE bestial gladiators, of all shapes and

  sizes. The more animal gladiators on show, the

  happier his citizens were, and the happier his citizens

  were, the happier Hadrian was, too.

  Except that not all t
he animals captured and put up

  for training were happy to become gladiators.

  In fact, one particular recruit was proving to be

  extremely difficult to handle.

  “It’s no good, Victorius,” said the bumbling

  Or

  you will

  feel the

  sharp end

  of my

  HOOF!

  dungeon master. “No matter what I do, I can’t

  keep her quiet!”

  Victorius threw down his scroll. “DO I HAVE TO

  DO EVERYTHING MYSELF?” He stormed

  down to the school arena, where his disobedient

  pupil was chained to a training pole.

  “By Jupiter’s beard, Zebra, what will it take for you

  to BEHAVE yourself?”

  “You will free me from these chains and take me to

  my SONS,” demanded the zebra.

  TO BE CONTINUED . . .

  Hello, readers! Julius has asked me

  and Felix to help explain the strange

  page numbers used throughout this book.

  Instead of page numbers like 1, 2, and 3,

  you’ll find I, V, X, and various other

  letters, which are Roman numerals — just

  like the Romans used for counting!

  Even an idiot

  like me can

  understand

  them. Hooray!

  Here are the seven letters that

  represent all the Roman numerals.

  Thankfully, you won’t

  find the last two.

  This book is big

  enough as it is!

  ROMAN NUMERALS

  I = 1

  V = 5

  X = 10

  L = 50

  C = 100

  D = 500

  M = 1000

  WAIT! We’re not finished!

  You don’t ALWAYS add

  Roman numerals!

  Oh?

  Sometimes you

  subtract. For instance,

  3 is written as III,

  but 4 is not IIII.

  But hold on,

  how do you

  write 4,

  then?

  My brain hurts!

  Mostly, you simply add

  Roman numerals together

  to make different numbers: