The foraging group wasn’t back until gone eleven that evening so it was morning when I stood at the side, Lucia behind me, our backs against the cave wall. Claudia introduced me, which caused some murmuring and exchange of glances from the women sitting in the main cave.
‘I’m not going to do a show lap round the arena—’
‘That’ll make a change from a politico,’ somebody muttered. Claudia frowned, but I held my hand up. ‘Those times have passed,’ I said in the direction of the voice. A brown-haired woman flushed and looked down. ‘The plain fact is that I need your help to reconquer Roma Nova. You will be remembered with great honour and never be in want or threatened again.’ Now they stared at me. ‘You’re living here as fugitives. Reasonably comfortably and in supportive company. But you must be aware that it’s only temporary. There is no doubt that one day Caius Tellus’s political troops will come here in force with the objective of clearing the caves.’ I heard a sob and more mumblings.
‘We will make our stand and if necessary die like Romans!’ A black-haired woman jumped up and directed a fierce expression at me.
‘Yes, and that would be very honourable. But you’d be dead. Wouldn’t you prefer to live?’
Claudia shifted on her feet, but I ploughed on.
‘The Roma Nova government in exile is obtaining and collating information and preparing a strategic take-back plan. But we need groups inside Roma Nova to help us.’ I swallowed. ‘I’m recruiting resistance groups to carry out specific tasks at the time we launch our operation. I see you have plenty of fighting spirit, but we will need you for more than that.’ I paused and a few women looked at me, interest birthing in their eyes, fuelled by curiosity. Volusenia would have wolf cubs if she heard me now; recruiting was nowhere in my remit, but this was too good an opportunity to miss.
A blonde woman stood up. ‘Former Optio Caelia, medical services attached to the XX Victis.’
‘A good legion. You have a question?’ I said.
‘Exactly what do you want us to do, ma’am?’
‘I can’t give you exact details of your task at the moment, optio, but it will be a vital one. You can be sure of that. In the meantime you must keep everybody safe.’
* * *
‘That was clever, making Optio Caelia responsible for security,’ Claudia whispered to me afterwards over a cup of black tea.
‘Do you think she can do it?’ I said.
‘Yes. She’s fidgety and twice I’ve had to stop her going out and doing something silly. She’s full of anger, as they all are.’
‘Well, she’ll help you drill them into a unit and select teams. She’ll also be able to run evacuation drills. You must be prepared for that, Claudia. Caius won’t wait forever. I’ll use my Praetorian authority and make you a temporary lieutenant.’
‘I’m honoured.’ She took a few more sips, glanced at her watch. ‘But that’s not everything, is it?’
‘How well you know me, Claudia.’ I gave a little chuckle. ‘No, now we must make contact with the larger group in the upper caves. I need to have Atrius with me as well as you and Lucia.’ Her quick intake of breath told me the problem. I laid my hand on hers and looked straight at her.
‘You and the rest of your group will have to get used to men again, to learn to trust them and work with them again. Atrius and those in Lucia’s group will be completely respectful, but you will have to meet them halfway.’
She hesitated, then nodded briefly, but didn’t say anything.
Back in Lucia’s cave for the night, I managed to talk to Atrius privately.
‘Neither this group nor Claudia’s knows anything about our other team. They should be here by now.’
‘Unless they managed to get out through the Helvetian route,’ he said.
‘We were supposed to fall back here, then leave together. The deadline expires tomorrow midday. After that we assume them lost.’
He looked away. He’d fallen into the nationalists’ hands and knew exactly what would happen to them.
* * *
I didn’t sleep well that night, imagining we would be overwhelmed by a feral group of hundreds from the upper cave, some kind of primitive and savage horde that had in desperation reverted to tribal behaviour. My rational mind told me I was being ridiculous, but neither Lucia nor Claudia knew anything about them. They occasionally glimpsed one or two figures climbing up or down on ropes, mostly at night. I woke early and boiled water on the little stove, sloshing it into cups to make black tea. I crept over to Atrius who blinked then yawned when I nudged him awake. He drank in silence, staring out into the dawn light.
‘You’re sure you’re still happy to go first?’ I said.
‘Yes. They can only shoot me or club me to death. Then you’ll know.’ He shot me a quick grin and I punched him lightly on the arm, returning his grin.
‘All the same…’
‘Be careful. I know.’
* * *
It was more of a walk along a narrow ledge up to the upper caves than a full-blown climb. While Atrius went ahead, I glimpsed down and wished I hadn’t. A hundred metres at least to the ground. If we failed to connect with these people, Lucia, Claudia and I would follow Atrius on that last fall and end up as piles of broken bones and shattered flesh. I wrenched my head back to the cliff face and nearly lost my balance. Claudia shot out her arm to steady me. I mumbled an apology.
The minutes ticked by. The sun became warmer and its light and warmth reflected off the crystalline rock. Birds swooped around us, no doubt curious about the invaders of their territory. Braced against the cliff face with a few centimetres’ grace, my muscles were starting to stiffen and cramp. I didn’t doubt Lucia and Claudia were the same. We’d probably been waiting a max of ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. But all we needed now was some damned helicopter patrol to fly by and we’d be ducks in a shooting gallery. Gods, what was Atrius doing, renegotiating the Treaty of Westphalia?
I leant my forehead against the rock. A crack, a thump. Something flying through the air.
Please not… Not Atrius.
It bounced against the rock face, millimetres from my face. A wooden step rope ladder.
‘What took so long?’ I hissed at him as he helped us onto the deep ledge.
He laughed. ‘You’ll see.’
‘Now look, Atrius, don’t piss me around. We’ve been stuck out there having heart attacks waiting for your corpse to be thrown out. What’s going on?’
Two men and a woman, booted and dressed in combat trousers, scruffy shirts and waistcoats, stepped forward. I nearly fell backwards off the ledge in surprise when I saw the woman. I hadn’t seen her for at least a couple of weeks. Now I knew why.
Pia Calavia, aristocrat and Praetorian officer, looked like a wild guerrilla fighter from the South American continent. Criss-crossed across her chest were two bandoliers, the pockets part-filled with single rounds, part with magazine clips. Her long hair had been cropped to tight curls and she wore a knotted scarf like an ancient legionary’s focale in the neck of a faded brown shirt. She brandished a rifle that should have been in a museum.
‘What in Pluto’s name are you doing here?’ I’d recovered enough not to use her real name. If she was leading this group, she might well be using a nom de guerre.
‘Waiting for you, Prima. Your deadline expires in three hours.’
I glanced at the two men standing with her, neither of whom I recognised. Their eyes were full of curiosity, but their expressions remained stern.
‘Well, you can at least invite us in and find us a cup of coffee,’ I said.
Their caves were extensive; there must have been over a hundred people living there, women and men. Their local leader, Frontius, had organised them into foraging, defence and logistic groups. A sturdy man with dark eyes that darted everywhere like a car trader or land agent looking over your shoulder for the next deal. He said little when Calavia introduced us as Prima and Secundus.
Calavia and two othe
rs had arrived about ten days ago with supplies, including precious transceiver radios, and the task of setting up cells of resistants.
‘Has the other pair who set out at the same time as Atrius and me arrived yet?’ I crouched with Calavia in a corner at the back of a side cave where she slept.
‘One arrived yesterday with a gunshot wound to her lower arm. Her oppo didn’t survive.’ Calavia’s eyes clouded for a few moments. ‘She was more upset at leaving him in a ditch than worrying about her arm. Silly tart.’
‘Don’t be so hard, Calavia. It’s distressing when a tent-mate dies at your side. First time?’
‘Yes.’ She tilted her head. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to be callous, but we can’t afford it. We’ve dug the bullet out of her arm and patched her up.’
‘I’ll go and speak to her. What’s the situation here? How far do the caves go back, really?’
‘Right into the cliff until it starts sloping downward on the surface.’
‘And are there any escape tunnels?’
She shifted her feet and dropped her gaze.
‘Frontius has hinted, but hasn’t given me any details,’ she replied in a soft voice. ‘I had a quick look around, but haven’t had time for a thorough search.’
‘He must have some sort of evacuation plan.’ I would be having a word with Frontius; he had to trust Calavia with this or it could be disastrous if they were attacked.
‘He’s pulled this lot together,’ she added. ‘But he admitted to me it’s getting harder to stay covert just because of the sheer numbers of them.’
‘Any sign of the enemy?’
‘Frontius says the nats have patrolled past here on the tourist road that leads up to the old fortress, but they haven’t attacked the caves.’
‘Hmm. Call me paranoid, but don’t you find that strange?’
‘Difficult to mount a frontal attack – the losses would be significant,’ Calavia said.
‘Yes and no. Numbers would decide it. But suppose you wanted to finish off all your opponents in one hit?’
She studied the opposite wall, then brought her gaze back with a look of horror. ‘Oh, gods!’
‘Precisely,’ I replied. ‘Classic tactic. You let them cluster, or if necessary herd them, over a period of time in one place, then strike. We can’t wait for any warnings – they’re going to have to leave the caves now and disperse. According to people we’ve talked to in the city, Caius has mostly squashed open opposition there and it seems the same in the countryside. He’s not stupid. He’ll be up here to clear them out any day now.’
25
The next morning, I took a group picked by Frontius plus two from each of Claudia’s and Lucia’s groups through the communication techniques and issued them with my last sets of one-time letter pads for encrypting messages.
‘Give yourself enough time to work through the message and check it. Don’t forget the identifier group at the beginning of the message. You must keep the pads in a metal box with matches and turps nearby. They are precious, of course, but if there is any threat or possible compromise you must burn them. If any of Caius’s nats or somebody you suspect as a ferret or traitor could possibly have had access to them, they are worse than useless. They’ll endanger more lives and could compromise the entire take-back.’
While Calavia went off for her regular radio schedule back to Vienna, Atrius organised the newly trained into groups to instruct the others. At least they’d all be competent to send a message if push came to shove. I went up to the edge of the cave and stared out. Tree branches moved in the breeze, the sky was calm with a few clouds, no noise apart from a few birds singing. But I felt uneasy; the cave dwellers were vulnerable living in a self-confident bubble that was overdue for bursting.
When she came back, Calavia gave me such a look that I knew something had happened. She didn’t fuss but she had a sense of suppressed concern.
‘Urgent info. We need to get the leaders together.’
I took her with Lucia and Claudia into a huddle with Frontius in a side cave with strict orders to the two guards to let no one into our discussion. Frontius was surprised, but then shrugged, when Calavia and I revealed our true names.
‘I suppose I should have expected the Twelve Families to be involved in this. But we all thought you’d abandoned us.’
‘Never, Frontius.’ I clasped his upper arm and stared him direct in the eyes. ‘We had to lick our wounds. Caius Tellus caught us all off guard. Now we prepare to strike back. But to do this we must put a network in place that can carry out tasks such as destroying their communications and transport routes, and securing the broadcast stations.’
‘And just how are you going to do that, domina?’ he said in a sarcastic voice. ‘We’re only just managing to survive.’
‘Each group will have its specific task and train for it. But the first thing is to get you all into the city in safe locations.’
‘The city? You’re raving,’ he said. Calavia shot him an angry look. Claudia and Lucia said nothing but looked unhappy.
‘Staying here isn’t an option,’ I continued. ‘The nats could strike any day.’
‘They may not do it for months, if ever,’ Frontius shot back.
‘If I may, Major?’ Calavia fidgeted and I waved for her to speak. ‘In my sched a few minutes ago with Vienna, the group that Major Mitela set up in the city has just reported a troop concentration yesterday in the Victis barracks. Six light personnel carriers and four covered cargo trucks. They couldn’t see what was in the trucks, but something heavy from the how low the vehicles sat.’
‘Victis barracks lies this side of the city,’ I explained to the others and told them of my suspicions I discussed with Calavia last night I looked round at them all ‘This means we move out now.’
‘The safest place is right under their eyes where they least expect you.’ I tore the city map out of Atrius’s telephone directory and marked up locations.
‘These are properties owned by exiled Roma Novans. Some are individual houses, some are shops with flats above or even simple rooms with shared facilities. They’ve agreed they can be used by resistance forces. You may have to break in, but I trust you will be discreet. My own domus may have been confiscated along with Countess Quirinia’s, but if nobody’s living there, then you’ll need the passwords to get through the security. Well, if it’s still working. I’ll write letters of authorisation. Quirinia’s steward knows my writing. If he’s still there, that is.’ I glanced at Calavia and Claudia, who both nodded. ‘You may also use domus of the Calavia and Cornelia families, if available.’
‘You’ve thought this through, haven’t you?’ Frontius said. He taken some further convincing, but now admitted to the wisdom of moving out in light of the message from the resistance group in the city.
‘We’ve spent enough time planning,’ I said ‘Now we’re into the doing stage.’
‘You think you can do it?’ Frontius pursued his lips.
‘No, I think we can do it.’
He nodded his head slowly.
‘One thing. In the properties you occupy… I trust you will respect the contents.’
‘We’ll have to live off something,’ Frontius replied. ‘We might have to scavenge.’
‘Yes, but you can be sensible about it. The locked storerooms in the basements of the bigger houses should have good supplies of smoked and preserved meats and vegetables, if they haven’t been looted. You should consume those first. If a steward is in place she, or he, will allocate you resources. We’ll be in contact soon to ask you to get a job in a strategic target.’
‘What sort of thing?’ He scratched the back of his neck.
‘Something like a cleaner or clerical assistant – one that people don’t notice.’
‘How long will it be for?’
‘I don’t have an answer, but it’s been nearly fourteen months since that bastard Caius Tellus seized power. The sooner we’re ready, the sooner we can act.’
He sto
od, thinking we were finished.
‘One more thing, Frontius.’ I gestured the others to stand. Frontius flicked the thick brown hair out of his eyes and looked at me with a wary expression. ‘I understand you have escape tunnels to the surface from your run of caves here. Claudia and Lucia are going to bring their people up here in the next hour to be evacuated. They and Calavia need to know where these tunnels are. I suggest you share that information now.’ I crossed my arms, stared at him and waited.
* * *
‘Juno, I thought he was going to choke,’ Claudia said. She was busying herself rolling her sleeping bag into a nylon bag. All around her the other women were packing up their camp; some were already ferrying their backpacks up to Frontius’s caves. Calavia would direct the dispersal from there.
‘I can see his point,’ I said. ‘This is the worst of Caius’s pernicious regime – he’s stopped us trusting each other. You don’t know if your neighbour, a friend you’ve known for years or even your family member is one of these damned nats.’
I glanced round. The cave was pretty nearly empty.
‘I’m just going down to check how Lucia’s crew are getting on before it starts getting dark. I’ll see you back at the top.’ I patted her on the shoulder as I stood. I was used to clambering between the caves now. Somebody had carved out extra hand- and footholds and fixed a rope which made it even easier, but I didn’t want to risk falling off. Whatever I would have liked to think, the reality was that I wasn’t as agile as I had been twenty years ago.
‘Salve, Lucia,’ I said as I swung into the entrance to her cave. She stood a step back from the edge and looked harassed, but her people clustered ready to move with their bags and sacks at their feet. I noticed a few of them had rifles slung across their backs. They were chattering, some even joshing each other.
‘Ready to go?’ I said.
‘I suppose so.’ She rubbed the back of her neck with her fingers. ‘This wasn’t home, but we found some peace here.’
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