by Griff Hosker
It was Raven who alerted them to the Selgovae. His ears pricked. The rise hid an approaching enemy. “Mount lads.” Titus whistled and Marcus knew that Gnaeus would be mounting his men.
The scrubby undergrowth allowed them to see the warband as they trudged down the slope. As Marcus had expected they were cheered by the fact that the legionary fortress was in view. Warriors liked to fight, not march.
“Stand by Titus.” Marcus balanced the javelin in his hand. The two halves of the turma were far enough apart so that they did not risk hitting each other. They could throw blind. They would be hitting a mass of unprepared men. With luck they would hit a large number of barbarians. Not all would die but the shock effect would be great. They would be disrupted and a charge with spears might just rout them.
His men had the advantage of seeing his actions and, as he drew back his arm, so did they. “Now, Titus!” The buccina sounded and sixteen javelins flew through the air. Marcus loosed his second and grabbed his spear. “Charge!”
They burst through the bushes. There were more warriors in the warband than Marcus had expected. Thirty or so had passed the ambush but the writhing bodies showed him that they had killed many. He wheeled left and his men followed. They fell upon the vanguard. The rest would have to negotiate the dead and the dying to reach them. Raven was the most powerful horse in the ala, never mind the turma, and Marcus raced ahead of his men. He aimed his spear at the warrior with the fine helmet who led the vanguard. The decurion took in the shield and the sword as he adjusted his spear. He pulled it back and, as the Selgovae chief raised his shield he punched forward at the man’s middle. The shield protected his head but his mailed stomach was vulnerable. The spear head ripped through the links and then tore into the man’s stomach. With a twist of the wrist Marcus withdrew his spear. A string of wriggling guts looking like an enormous worm emerged with them.
He glanced around and saw Titus using the end of the standard to take out a Selgovae warrior’s eye. A warrior dropped to the ground to avoid Marcus who stabbed down and pinned the man to the earth. He reined in Raven while he withdrew the spear head. There was no immediate danger and he looked at the scene. The vanguard had been destroyed but the rest were now advancing in a solid line of shields and spears, “Sound the recall.”
He watched as his well drilled troopers thrust their spears one last time and then wheeled off. He was about to follow them when he saw a gaggle of Selgovae race recklessly towards Gaius and Lentius who were at the rear of the line. A warrior hurled his war axe and it struck Lentius’ horse. It went down instantly as the axe embedded itself in its skull. The young trooper staggered to his feet, dazed and the Selgovae eagerly raced to finish him off. Gaius put his arm down to lift his friend on to his horse’s rump. Marcus cursed. They would both die.
He kicked hard and Raven leapt forward. Lentius was too dazed to be able to grab the outstretched arm and a warrior speared him in the back as he stood trying to reach Gaius. The warrior screamed in triumph and he pulled back his spear to gut the helpless Gaius who just stared at his dying friend.
Yelling, “Trooper! Retreat!” Marcus hurled his spear. It was not meant for throwing but Marcus had hidden strength. It flew straight and true and embedded itself in the warrior’s stomach before emerging from his back. Marcus drew his sword and galloped towards the charging Selgovae. He no longer had the advantage of length for the spear was gone and he used his speed of hand, eye and horse to charge at them smashing their weapons with his sword. They did not help themselves as they got in each other’s way. Marcus kicked one warrior in the face as his sword tore across the throat of a second. He felt a spear slide across his left leg. He raised his shield and smashed the edge onto the skull of the warrior.
He had enough space to wheel Raven around and he took off after Gaius who had finally listened to his orders. Gnaeus had halted the men, again, against the decurion’s orders, just four hundred paces from the ambush.
“Follow your orders and ride!”
He felt the blood flowing down his leg but he dared not stop. Had Gaius not disobeyed his orders they would have been well away from the Selgovae. As it was they had had time to catch up a little. Marcus knew that they would lose them eventually but he wanted to be able to escape detection at their new camp. In fact they were four miles from their camp for the night at Blatobulgium before they gave up their chase.
Felix saw them and he and Wolf ran from the deserted fort to meet them. As he reined in Marcus felt light headed. Gnaeus grinned at him, “Well sir that was a little reckless wasn’t…” he suddenly saw the blood. “Capsarius! The Decurion is wounded.”
Titus was the closest and he managed to reach the decurion before he slid from his horse. They lowered him to the ground and the capsarius began to work on him. There was an anxious silence and even Wolf appeared worried as he licked the decurion’s hand. After tearing open his breeches the capsarius reached into his bag and took out some vinegar which he poured over the wound. Taking out a needle and some gut he said, “Signifer hold the two sides of the wound together and try to keep pressure on the wound.”
The blood continued to seep between Titus’ fingers. He bit his lip. It would be ridiculous to lose the decurion to such a simple looking wound and yet Titus knew that Marcus could bleed to death. The capsarius worked quickly ignoring the blood. The stitches would be rough but they would hold the skin together.
“Just keep the pressure on for a few moments longer.” The capsarius took out a bandage and wrapped it around the decurion’s leg. He looked up at Gnaeus. “He should live but you can never tell. He really needs something hot inside him.”
“Then he will have it. Felix, is the fort safe?”
“There are no warriors for two miles in any direction.”
“Right you four troopers put two of your shields together as a stretcher and carry him to the fort.”
Gnaeus and Titus rode at the rear of the turma with weapons drawn. “He nearly bought it then, Chosen Man.”
“I know. His courage will get him killed one of these days.”
This fort was similar to the one they had slept in the previous night. They found one wooden building with a roof of sorts and they placed the decurion within. “Right I want a small fire making. Just use old wood. I want no smoke.”
Titus said, “Are you sure? You know it might draw the bastard barbarians on to us.”
“He needs food and he needs to recover. Both need a fire. It’s my shout.” He looked at Felix. “Now I am hoping that you have some food.” The scout grinned and held up two pigeons and a small hare. “You’ll do for me son. Get a stew of some description on. I know that Drugi will have taught you.”
He stood and addressed them all. “Listen; we are in the deep shit here, lads.” He glared at Gaius and jabbed a finger at him. “And it is this useless bugger’s fault. When we get back to Cilurnum you will be on horse shit duty for a month my son!”
“I’m sorry sir but Lentius was my friend.”
“I don’t care if he was your brother we all know the rules. You fall and no one comes back for you. You nearly got three men killed there, son, not just Lentius. Any man other than the Decurion and it would have been three. You owe him your life.”
He looked at the determined faces. The turma felt that they were the elite. They served the sword. If the decurion needed fire then fire he would have.
“Half of you are on duty now. Spread yourselves out and listen for the Selgovae. This is their land.” He nodded at Wolf. “And listen to the dog. If he growls then there is someone out there. We will swap over after dark.” As the troopers arranged their duty partner Gnaeus said to Titus, “This will be a long night old son!”
The band of Selgovae ambushed by Marcus was not the only one moving south. King Tole was already watching the fortress of Luguvalium with five hundred of his warriors. By morning he would have well over a thousand. That would be more than enough to destroy the auxiliaries within. These were not the va
unted legion which had defeated the last rebellion of the Selgovae. These were the barely trained barbarians the Romans called auxiliaries and they would fall.
As his bands arrived he was disturbed to hear of Roman cavalry behind their lines. Already he was over a hundred warriors short of the number he had expected. Had it been just one incident then he would have put it from his mind but there appeared to be large numbers of them. The last band who came reported over sixty horse warriors. They had boasted of almost killing the officer but when they said they had only killed one man then he knew that they were fighting Marcus’ Horse. One band of horse warriors would not stop the invasion but they might slow it down. He just waited for his brother Tiernan. He hoped that he would have avoided disaster.
The Allfather was watching over Marcus and the turma. He awoke a few hours after sunset. The capsarius called Gnaeus over. “You had us worried sir.”
“Is that smoke I can smell?”
Guiltily Gnaeus said, “You needed hot food and we have kept a good watch. No-one came.”
“Well put it out now. I am awake and I feel fine.”
“Go on Titus, put it out.”
The hissing from the fire told Marcus that his orders had been obeyed. “Anyone else wounded?”
“No sir, just you.”
Marcus suddenly seemed to realise where they were. “I thought the other turma would have used this.”
“He’s a young decurion sir. Perhaps he didn’t know about it.”
“Perhaps. Tomorrow we will sweep north and then head east again. I would feel happier if we saw signs that the other turmae were around.”
“Me too, sir. I don’t know how you and the other Explorates ever did that job. This is bad enough but at least there are thirty odd of us. You did this in ones and twos.”
Marcus smiled at the memory of those far off days. “You get used to it and it was easier than this. Here I worry about all of you. As an Explorate you just worried about yourself.”
Marcus did not feel fully recovered as he mounted Raven the next day but he had his duty and besides there was no alternative. In the ala you just got on with it.
“Felix, see what is ahead.”
As they rode up the partly finished Roman Road Marcus wondered if they would ever recover the land they had lost. He had met the Emperor Hadrian and, although a good Emperor, he seemed happy to settle for the frontier where it was. Marcus’ father had told him how Agricola had almost conquered the whole of the Province. They had come so close it seemed a shame to settle for half of Britannia.
Now that he had used his spear and left it in a dead Selgovae Marcus would have to go back to relying on the Sword of Cartimandua. He did not mind. It had never let him down. He believed it was a good luck charm. The wound yesterday could have been worse if it had struck an artery. The sword would continue to protect him so long as he was true to his calling; he was a warrior.
Felix ran back down the road with Wolf in close attendance. He looked agitated, “Stand to and ready your weapons.”
He looked genuinely upset. “Sir, I have found the other turma. They are on the other side of the woods.”
Marcus asked no more questions for the look on Felix’s face and the crows, magpies and ravens swirling in the sky bespoke their own story. As they crested the rise they saw thirty bodies impaled upon stakes. The heads were all missing.
The whole turma approached silently. There was no hurry. They were not recently killed. Marcus could smell the bodies. As he looked he realised that the one body which was missing was Marius’. He would ponder that later. “Chosen Man, get the bodies off the stakes.”
“What do we do with them sir?”
“We burn them!”
“But sir, the Selgovae will see the smoke.”
Marcus’ voice was as cold as his eyes as he said, “Burn them while I try to work out what happened here. Felix, come with me.”
As an Explorate he had been taught to read signs and make inferences. He saw that at least half of the troopers had been dead before they had been impaled. It was obvious that some of the others had been impaled alive for there were huge puddles of blood and dark soil lying at the base of the stakes. Some of the turma must have surrendered or been overcome.
“Felix where did the ambush take place?”
He and Wolf trotted off in a large circle and Marcus watched as his men took the bodies off the stakes as carefully as if the troopers were still alive. These were their friends and they would honour them in death. Other troopers were gathering wood for the pyre.
Felix had disappeared. There was another rise ahead and the scout appeared there. Marcus mounted Raven and rode towards him. His leg was not strong enough for walking yet. When he reached the top of the rise he saw the ambush site. There were four dead and partly butchered horses lying between a stand of trees. There was a great deal of blood on the trees and the road.
Felix pointed as he spoke. “Many Selgovae hid behind these bushes. They had some sort of barricade here.” He gestured to a track in the grass and the tree trunks which had been dragged away. “They did the same at the other end.”
Marcus nodded. Poor Marius was inexperienced. You never took your men into a narrow gap. You scouted, you waited, you smelled, you took a different route; what you did not do was what he had done and ride between trees where you could be surrounded and slaughtered.
“Any sign of the decurion?”
Felix shook his head. “The horses and the warriors headed south.”
As he returned to his men he knew that they had taken Marius with them to Luguvalium. He thought he knew why. He hoped his young friend was already dead but in his heart he knew that he was not.
Gnaeus had waited for the decurion to return before burning the bodies. The stakes were laid alternatively to form a funeral pyre for the thirty warriors who had died. Marcus nodded and Gnaeus lit the fire. It seemed to take an age to get going and thick black smoke billowed up into the skies.
Titus shook his head, “We might as well tell them where we are. We will be joining these soon, Chosen Man.”
Gnaeus shook his head, “You don’t believe that. We have the best decurion in the ala. He wouldn’t walk into a trap like these lads. We just have to keep him alive.”
Chapter 16
Tiernan proudly paraded the bleeding and wounded decurion. He was tethered to his own horse and had been half dragged the fifteen miles from the ambush site. King Feanan and his Novontae took this as a good omen. They had a Roman officer. Although they had not brought the numbers the Selgovae had the king knew his warriors would relish the chance to do as Tiernan had done. This was a Roman from their horse warriors. They were a fierce foe. It was a sign that the gods were impressed. He wondered now at the wisdom of leaving a third of his forces to guard his homeland.
King Tole was impressed. “A fine prisoner, brother.”
Tiernan nodded. “We killed all the others.” He sneered at the chiefs who had lost men to these horse warriors. “I brought him here to guarantee victory. We will sacrifice him here in the river.”
Although King Tole would have liked to make that decision he thought it a good one. “You are right brother and we will show the priestess that we too can make a sacrifice which will ensure victory.”
Marius was stripped and his hands bound behind him. Tiernan and Tole themselves took him to the edge of the river across from the legionary fortress. He knew that the garrison was watching them which was why they had chosen this spot. Tiernan wielded the hammer. He struck Marius on the side of the head. For Marius it was a mercy. If he could he would have ended his own life. He had been a fool and his men had paid for his mistake with their lives.
Tiernan held up the limp decurion while Tole slowly throttled him. He hoped he had not killed him for he wished the gods to reward them for this sacrifice. Finally he took his knife and slashed the throat of the young officer. The blood spurted; it showed that he was still alive. The watching warriors screamed their
joy. Tiernan threw the body into the water as Tole shouted, “Allfather, take this Roman as a sacrifice and grant us victory.”
Even if the garrison did not see exactly what happened they saw the tribal tokens and the weapons waving in the late afternoon light. They heard the roar from the barbarians and prepared themselves for the worst. The Selgovae and the Novontae were coming. The mixed cohort readied themselves. They would be fighting for their lives soon.
With the bodies still burning Marcus led his troopers west. They had to find Rufius. He would assume that Marius was to the east of him. Marcus could not leave Rufius isolated. Felix ran, not along the rough tribal road, but through the trees. He was able to move as quickly as though on the road but he was hidden and that was important. Drugi had taught him well. He and Wolf were like two shadows that flickered through the trees.
The Romans had built few forts in the land of the Novontae and even fewer roads. It was a wild hilly country. As Felix ran through this new land he began to worry about the decurion and his men. The sight of the headless corpses had shaken the Brigante scout. That sort of thing did not happen to the horse warriors he served.
Suddenly Wolf stopped and his ears pricked. A low growl emanated from his throat. From the growl Felix knew that it meant an enemy ahead. He unslung his bow and took out an arrow in the blink of an eye. He sniffed and then he peered. The rough road was thirty paces below him. It was fortunate he had avoided it for there were two warriors hiding in the trees with their own bows ready to ambush anyone loping along. Felix had a dilemma. He had been told to find the lost turma. If he returned now he might have to travel a long way to get around this obstacle. On the other hand if he failed to kill them then they might summon others.