by Jack Whyte
Germanus sat erect throughout this diatribe, gazing at me with narrowed eyes, his chin cupped in one hand, his elbow resting on the back of the other arm across his middle. When I had finished, he looked away, into the heart of the dying fire. Then he sighed again.
"You should have been an advocate."
"No, sir," I responded, "I am a soldier. Pelagius is advocate enough for me, and for my people."
"Hmm. You know he is dead?"
I nodded, saying nothing.
Germanus rose to his feet. "Merlyn, I could respond to what you have said, but I will not, not now. Your words, and the simplicity with which you state them, seem irrefutable, I know, and I will not condemn your evident faith in the truth of them." Again he sighed, a gusty, heaving sound of breath drawn, it appeared to me, from the soles of his feet. "But there is more to it than you can know. Which is, of course, why I am sent here."
He smiled at me and held out his hand. "Again, Caius Merlyn, let me thank you for your assistance today. Without it, we might never have seen Verulamium, and there would be no debate for several more years. I must go now and become the bishop again, discarding arms and armour and praying for humility to arm me in grace against the task ahead." He hesitated for an instant. "We will talk more on this, I promise you."
I stood by the fire and watched him enter the tent that was obviously his, and from that moment on I saw no more of Germanus the Legate. We rode thereafter in escort of Germanus the Cleric.
XXXIV
The experience of being in Verulamium disturbed me deeply. I had the same feeling of alien wonder and dread I experienced much later in my life, at my first Celtic funeral gathering in Hibernia, surrounded by masses of people making merry, eating and drinking and celebrating the humanity of the deceased, while the corpse lay stark and grim-faced among them. In a gruesome parody of life in death, Verulamium was a town whose passing was being celebrated—largely unconsciously, I was quite sure, by the majority of the celebrants. It was a ghostly, moribund place, dilapidated and run-down, experiencing one last glimpse of bustling, urban life, thanks to the crowds that had descended upon it and around it, attracted by Germanus and his visiting bishops and the importance of the occasion.
The first incongruity I noticed lay in the buildings. Some were inhabited, but most were no more than shells, looking fine enough on the outside, but empty, gutted and ravaged within, offering no spark of warmth or comfort. I had thought I knew this town well from my readings, and I had visualized it all my life as the home of Bishop Alaric. In my mind, I had always seen Verulamium as a lovely, stately place, wealthy, yet bucolic and well tended, with a healthy, prosperous populace. In reality, it was a ruined wasteland, and I met very few who lived there. Only within the original Roman walls, a tiny enclave the size of a fortified encampment—which it had originally been—were there any signs of permanent, ongoing habitation.
The throngs of people who jammed the streets by day camped by night, for the most part, in the fields surrounding the town. The public basilica and baths had been hastily renovated to accommodate the influx of delegates to the debate, but they were woefully inadequate to serve the multitude that materialized, drawn by the promise of momentous developments, and the empty buildings quickly became public latrines, the stench of which did not take long to permeate the air in all directions.
The Great Debate itself was to be held in the large amphitheatre outside the town, which, as I knew from Uncle Varrus's tales, could house upward of seven thousand seated people, but by the time our party arrived, three days in advance of the opening of the proceedings, there were already more than twice that number of people in and around the town. There were clerics in abundance, of course. Every bishop in Britain who could attend was there in person, and more than a few of them had brought staff with them. At first it amused me—later it upset me—to see how widely the various groups and sub-groups of clerics varied in their appearance. Some were dressed plainly and with dignity, as befitted their calling, but many more—far more—deported themselves as men of wealth and substance, wearing rich robes arid bearing jewelled crosses and gold vessels.
And then there were the crowds. Many were sober, decent folk, the people of Britain come, as had we, to hear and see their destiny debated and decided. Others, however, and there seemed more of these than any other kind, were the type that are always attracted to large gatherings, looking to fatten themselves off the gullibility of fools. There were hawkers and peddlars and thieves and cutpurses, harlots and harpies and whores, musicians and tellers of tales, actors and singers and tellers of fortune. There were sellers of wines and beer and mead and food of all descriptions.
Nowhere were there any keepers of order. And the result was chaos.
I had hardly spoken ten words to Bishop Germanus since the day of our first meeting. For the duration of our journey northward together, he had kept to himself, a bishop again, spending his time in prayer and contemplation, preparing his mind for the debate that lay ahead. We had parted company on the outskirts of the town on the morning we arrived, he and his companions heading inward to meet with the rest of his retinue while my party swung eastward in search of a space large enough to allow us to encamp and still be within easy reach of the town and the amphitheatre.
That evening, however, a short time after sunset, as our encampment was settling down after the evening meal and I was enjoying a flask of mead by my own fireside with Lucanus, Germanus came to visit us, in his capacity as bishop, complete with long robe and pastoral shepherd's staff, accompanied by another.
Greatly surprised, for I had not really expected to meet with him again, let alone speak with him, I made him and his companion welcome and called for Donuil to serve them some mead. Lucanus made to excuse himself immediately, but Germanus invited him to remain, apologizing for the interruption. He turned then to me, indicating the man he had brought with him.
"Caius Merlyn, you have not met Bishop Patricius of Verulamium, although he knows your aunt, the Lady Luceiia."
I remembered immediately. This was the bishop who had first brought the mad priest Remus to Camulod, although he could hardly be held to blame for Remus's madness. I shook his hand and told him I had heard my aunt speak of him, though I refrained from telling him she thought him not half the man his predecessor had been. He was a big, old man, self-satisfied and well-fed in appearance, but gentle-voiced and inoffensive of manner. I introduced them to Lucanus, who had met Germanus before but had never spoken with him, and asked them to be seated on the two extra folding stools Donuil had placed between ours. When they were comfortable by the fire and we had shared a friendly toast to the forthcoming event, I asked the purpose of their visit.
I had been aware since their arrival that Germanus looked ill at ease, but I had no means of divining the reason. Now he frowned and sucked in his lips as though clearing his mouth of an unpleasant taste, and when he spoke, his words were unequivocal.
"Our purpose here, Caius Merlyn," he said, "is both presumptuous and indefensible."
I flicked a glance at Lucanus who was already looking at me, an expression of quizzical surprise in his eyes. I looked back to Germanus.
"Well, Bishop, that assures you, at least, of my complete attention."
"Hmm! Have you been in the town?"
I shook my head. "No, not yet. We've been setting up camp since we arrived."
"Any of your men there?"
"No, not until tomorrow. Why? What's wrong?"
He jerked his head, a gesture of disgust. "The place is in a state of anarchy...chaos... Thousands of people, of all descriptions, many of them lawless, and no means of maintaining order, no means at all."
I stared at him in surprise. "Is there that much need of it?"
He blinked at me in incredulity. "Need of it? Of order? How can you even ask such a question? There are thousands more people here than anyone had dreamed might come, and they lack both accommodation and latrines. Latrines, Merlyn, the bane of all command
ers in the field. The filth has already started to pile up everywhere, and filth breeds pestilence, as you well know. Far worse than that, however, for the moment, is the lack of food. There have been no arrangements made by anyone to feed these thousands of people, who have been arriving here in multitudes for days. Some have been here for weeks. Most brought some provisions with them, but those have already been consumed, since most people also thought to buy food here, and there is none, or very little. What little there is has been appropriated by a group of brigands—"
"Appropriated? How so? Did no one try to prevent them?" Even as I asked, I knew how silly was my question. Germanus's expression and his next words proved it.
"Merlyn, they are well organized, and therefore dangerous and powerful. Verulamium, on the other hand, is home today to four hundred souls. One man, an honest fellow called Michelus, functions as an aedile, or mayor. He has four others, townspeople, who help him keep the peace in normal times. Now that abnormal times have come to Verulamium, he and his four, even augmented by my own escort, are rendered useless. I said these thieves are organized, and they are apparently disciplined, to some degree at least. From what I can gather, they are a loose-knit band of ruffians, numbering more than fifty, probably mercenaries or worse, who were attracted here by news of our gathering. They arrived some days ago, assessed the situation, saw their opportunity and took control of the available food supply using force and intimidation.
"There is trouble brewing as we speak. Not all the people who are gathered here are sheep. A corps of resistance has emerged, although belatedly, and a violent confrontation seems inevitable. The entire town could be in flames before dawn. People will die there tonight, Merlyn, and as time goes on and the numbers grow, things will deteriorate further and more quickly." He paused and cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed. "I came to ask if you would use your men to assert control in the town. As I've said, I have my own escort, but they are not enough. I will put them at your disposal."
I could hardly believe what I had heard, although I did not doubt one word of it. Nor did I doubt that my own men were crucial to the well-being of everyone in Verulamium. The doubt that crashed down upon me immediately concerned my right to plunge my men into a confrontation that was, in reality, none of their affair—a confrontation that would almost certainly be violent and bloodily brutal if it took place, as it undoubtedly would, in the streets of the town...particularly if those same streets were filled with civilian rioters. I looked to Lucanus for support, but he had his head down, staring into the fire. My gaze moved to Bishop Patricius. He sat gazing stolidly at me, his face betraying nothing but concern, whether for my plight or the town's, I could not guess. Germanus stared levelly into my eyes.
"Damnation, Bishop," I said, fighting my feelings of rising panic, "I can't order my men into the town. I have no right, no authority for that. They are here with me on an embassy, no more; to demonstrate a presence on behalf of our Colony. I have no right to endanger their lives in a situation such as this."
"You endangered them to help us."
"That was different. You were being attacked by Saxon raiders, Outlanders. The people in that town are Britons." I shook my head, hating myself. "No, I cannot order my people to do this."
He nodded. "I understand your reluctance." A long pause, then: "You could ask them, however."
I looked at him. "What d'you mean, ask them? To volunteer?"
"Yes."
"And what if they refuse, as they ought to?"
"Then they refuse."
I sat in silence for several long moments, staring sightlessly into the flames of the fireplace, my mind spinning with possibilities. By the time I looked up again, my eyes dazzled by the firelight, I had decided. I called for Donuil and sent him to assemble my officers here at my tent. I said nothing further to the others and we waited together in silence for the time it took for the men I had summoned to arrive and stand in a knot just beyond the firelight. When all thirteen of them were there I called them forward, introduced Germanus, whom they knew, and Patricius, whom they did not, and then told them what had transpired. They listened in silence, and when I had finished speaking, they, too, considered in silence what I had said. I had made no effort to hide my own misgivings over Germanus's request, and I had gone out of my way to emphasize that I held them under no obligation. When I thought they had had sufficient time to think it over, I asked them for their opinions on what we should do. Pellus, my Chief of Scouts, spoke up immediately.
"No need for discussion, Commander. We should go in. Not tonight, if we can avoid it...not without taking a good look around...but there's a job to be done, and we can't just sit back and let this kind of thing go on. Let these whoresons get away with this here, and they'll be somewhere else next week, or next month." He turned to look at Cyrus Appius, the leader of the First Squadron. "What do you say, Cyrus?"
Appius nodded. "Absolutely correct, sir," he agreed, his eyes on mine. "It's not something we expected, but we can't ignore it. We really have no choice but to go in there and put things to rights. We should organize some food foraging parties, too:"
I looked at the others. "Does anyone disagree? Anyone want to bring anything else up for discussion?" No one moved or spoke.
"Very well, then," I continued. "But the criteria that I applied to you must also apply to your men. There can be no coercion. This is an affair for volunteers only. Summon your people. I'll speak to them as soon as they're assembled in the commissary area."
As the officers dispersed I turned back to Germanus. "Well, you have it, it seems. With their officers in favour, I expect half of the men will go along."
He shook his head and smiled. "No, Merlyn, all of them will, and I am grateful...We are grateful." Bishop Patricius nodded in agreement.
My mind was already grappling with logistics. "I can have your twelve Romans?''
"Of course."
"Good, then here's what we'll do. Pellus, my Chief Scout, is going to want to go into town now to look around and gauge the temper of things. I shall go with him, but not in uniform. That would be incendiary, I think. As has also been made clear, we don't want to send our people in there tonight if it can be avoided. We'll put them on alert at once, just in case, but we'll have them ready to move in at dawn, when most people will be asleep. That way, we'll be in situ before anyone can object, and after that it will be easier. In the meantime, please arrange for your Roman escort, who have already been seen by everyone, to be prepared to come inside tonight and extract us in the event of trouble. Can you arrange that?" He nodded. "I shall also need to meet with this aedile, Michelus, and his people. Have them meet with us at the tenth hour by the main entrance to the basilica. And the others you spoke of, the ones organizing the resistance to these thieves, can you bring me to them?" He nodded again, betraying no sign of rancour at my assumption of the role of Legate. I was thinking quickly, trying to remember anything else that might be important. Finally I shook my head. "That's all I can think of, for the moment. The troops should be assembled soon." They were gathering as I spoke. "As soon as they are ready, I'll speak to them and ask for volunteers. As soon as that's done, they will have to start preparing for whatever comes. At that point, there will be nothing to keep you here, Bishop Germanus. You may then go and look after the things I have requested, and we'll meet your people inside, by the basilica, at the time arranged. By then I will have had time to walk around the town and assess it for myself."
When our troopers volunteered to a man, Germanus squeezed my arm, thanked me again and left our camp.
That turned out to be a long night. After making my way into town at the time arranged, accompanied by a well-armed but discreet escort, I met with Germanus and his contingent of local leaders in the darkened courtyard of the town basilica. The bishop had been correct. Violent death was already loose in the streets of Verulamium: we had found several corpses casually strewn in the streets and alleys we traversed. There was an almost palpable air of
tension surrounding the furtive group that awaited me in the light of the guttering flames of six matched pairs of cressets, and looking at their shadowed faces I had not the slightest doubt that what had already occurred would be as nothing once the spark ignited among the volatile tinder evident in the bearing of these men.
Introductions were brief and the meeting began with bad news. The thieves, aware of the danger they now faced from the organizers of the resistance, had immured themselves in a strong house against the town walls. One of them had been captured earlier, however, and had volunteered the information, before carelessly falling to his death from a rooftop, that a messenger had already been sent out the previous day to summon reinforcement from the renegades' base camp some thirty miles away. At least another hundred of these wastrels were on their way to Verulamium, panting in the expectation of riches, and were expected to arrive before daybreak.
That news, unwelcome though it was, when coupled with the surprising numbers of the men commanded by Germanus's small group of leaders, relieved me of the dilemma that had been plaguing me. My cavalry would have been useless in a street fight, but they could smash these oncoming reinforcements in the darkness within sound of the town walls. That would take much of the fighting spirit out of the band waiting to be strengthened here in Verulamium, particularly if they could be prevented from making any kind of sortie to join the newcomers.
Linus, the most formidable of the men Germanus had brought to meet me, assured me that he had close to three hundred men, locals and visitors, willing to fight with him to regain the food stores held by the outsiders. He assured me that his people could contain the brigands while we rode out, simply by turning their fortified house into a prison by sealing the exits. I went with him to satisfy myself that he had the necessary numbers and that they could, in fact, do as he promised they would. That done, I made my way back to camp and immediately began making my own arrangements and instructing my troop commanders.