Ugo was smiling. ‘I have chosen my champion,’ he said and pointed to someone in the crowd. ‘You boy, there, step forward.’

James looked round and groaned as Tony Fitzpaine walked out and joined him, baring his big teeth in an arrogant smile.

‘This time you won’t take me by surprise, Bond,’ he said. ‘I’ll be ready for you. It’ll be a fair fight, and you will lose.’

16

16

Gladiators

James and Fitzpaine were taken to a private area behind the stadium to get ready. A guard showed them into a spotless, marble-floored room with paintings of sportsmen on the walls and a big sunken pool in the middle. A waiting attendant gave them towels and shorts and James started to get changed.

After a few minutes Zoltan came in with Ugo. They were both carrying boxing gloves and each one went to his champion.

‘Do you think you can do it?’ said Zoltan, slipping a glove on to James’s hand. ‘Do you think you can beat the big fellow?’

James swallowed hard. He had wanted to get his fight with Fitzpaine out in the open, to put an end to it, but not quite this far out in the open.

He looked across at him on the other side of the room.

‘I’ll try,’ he said.

He had done a bit of boxing at Eton and was pretty good. He was light and fast on his feet with a determination never to give up. He had a strong clean punch and could take a battering. But this was different. He would be boxing out in the stadium, in front of all those people, in the fierce heat, against a boy who hated him. On top of all that he had been knocked unconscious the night before and had had very little sleep.

These were not the perfect conditions for going into a boxing match.

‘He is taller than you,’ said Zoltan, ‘but he has shorter arms. So I think maybe you have the longer reach. Use it. He is heavier and maybe stronger, so you must be faster. Be a dancer not a fighter. Keep moving. Keep out of his way until you see your chance.’

James watched as Ugo’s guard laced on Fitzpaine’s gloves. The boy grimaced and spoke sharply to him, but Ugo leant over and whispered something in Fitzpaine’s ear. The boy’s eyes widened for a moment before he nodded his head and smiled.

What was Ugo up to now? James remembered how the Count had paid the wrestler to lose the match earlier. How was he going to cheat his way to victory this time?

Ugo and Fitzpaine briefly glanced over at James, as if they both knew something he didn’t.

Well, whatever it was, there was nothing he could do about it now.