by Tanya Allan
Could our enemies be simply opposed to the Church of Rome?
That was an amazing idea, for the Roman Catholic Church dominated European history right up to the present day, despite the rise of the Protestants and reformations in various countries; it still maintained a vice-like grip of the hearts, minds and souls of millions. Had Western Europeans failed to cross the oceans to colonise or otherwise interfere with a myriad of nations and peoples, then the Roman Catholic Church wouldn’t have expanded to cover the globe. Had Saladin achieved even greater success in the Holy Lands, then perhaps the spread of Christianity might have stopped within a few European states that seemed to redefine religion as another political force.
To try to identify a group with an axe to grind against the Catholic Church was a definite challenge, as there would be too many to count. Indeed, there was a theory that it was not atheists or radical Muslims who were our perpetrators, but fundamental Christians from what have become known as developing nations.
If the power of the Roman Church was never to rise, then the underground church would remain underground and radical. No longer would the acceptance that happened under Emperor Constantine render the movement virtually sterile and impotent. How can a radical movement be radical if it is socially desirable and fashionable?
The radical church would grow, and the power base would shift from Rome. The question was quite simple, to where would the power go?
Would the world be a better place without the Roman Catholic Church? What would replace it, and would it be any better?
There were no easy answers, and there were as many theories as there were questions. It was not, fortunately, my job to find the answers, but to remove the threats that caused them.
Our agent returned to the centre, as his construct was murdered somewhere in England. He was so traumatised that he had declined to return to the time of his death. His debrief had told us a little, and not unreasonably, he had elected to block all memories from his mind after his debrief was over.
“It seems the enemy identified him as an agent long before they took him out,” Michael said.
“So, what could he tell us?”
“He was following a lead to a ship in the Thames. Even back then London was a thriving port, so the Thames was navigable for the larger merchant vessels from all over the empire. All he had was a merchant who was Phoenician by birth and Roman by resettlement with the name of Glax. The ship was suspected to be used in the transportation of newly trained recruits destined for the eastern fringes of the Empire. They’d enter what you would know as the Black Sea and off load their passengers on the northern shores.”
I regarded the map on his desk.
“Dacia?”
“Possibly, or the Crimea Peninsular; it was a particularly troublesome spot, so if the Romans failed to quell the rebellion in the East, then who knows what might have happened. Certainly they would have had to divert precious legions to guard the eastern borders, leaving the south and north relatively unguarded.”
“Do we know the name of the ship?”
“No, just the name - Glax. It seems this Glax had a warehouse from which he distributed genuine wares that his ships brought in from all over the Mediterranean region. So, there were fine wines, herbs and spices, as well as fine cloth and trinkets for the women. He shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
Intrigued and challenged, I decided to return to several months before the event of his death. However, I wasn’t going straight to London, as my research had given me a real insight into a more effective method of meeting the right people.
The agent’s debrief had been conducted by a team, as was normal in cases of sudden and traumatic death. The details were fastidiously recorded and downloaded into my new construct, together with several languages and technical skills with the main weapons of the time.
Although I said I wanted to go straight back, it didn’t happen that way. After a day or so, just resting, reading newspapers and watching movies, I realised that I couldn’t go straight back. The Centre had an amazing library of all manner of media matter, so I had a mini-holiday, resting, working out in the superb gym and undertaking research on the period for which I was targeted.
Interestingly, as soon as I exercised, my knee started giving me trouble, and I immediately missed being the sleek machine that had been Jane.
My last assignment took a lot more out of me that I first thought. It also caused me a real quandary. I had successfully buried my inner desire to be female for many years whilst a Marine, but having lived a fulfilling life as a woman purely reinforced those feelings. As I waited, the pull to go back – anywhere and anytime, as a woman was almost overwhelming.
I would lie awake at night and cry for those I missed, earnestly wanting to be Jane once more.
How I missed her life!
I was sorely tempted to ask to remove those damn memories, but then that inner voice would probably still be crying in the darkness of my soul.
It was no surprise to me that I elected to go as a woman on my new assignment, but it was to Michael.
“Women were less than second-class citizens in this era, particularly in Roman society. They were little more than chattels!” Michael reminded me.
“What else has changed?” I said. “They weren’t exactly first-class citizens in the nineteenth century either.”
“True, but things are even more basic in the first.”
“They won’t expect a woman, and they won’t expect a Marine.”
“It’s madness, you will be far more effective as a soldier as a man.”
“Look, they’ll be expecting the man they killed to return, so they’ll be waiting for a man, right?”
“Possibly.”
“You know I’m right, Michael. The key is to be already there when our man dies. They won’t expect two agents in one place and one of them being a woman who is already there.”
“Hmm, maybe, but it won’t be easy. Roman society didn’t allow for women to have an awful lot of influence outside the home.”
“You said that most of our agents are like ghosts. Although taking the place of recorded people, they come and go with hardly a ripple, right?”
“Yes, so?”
“Well, not this woman. I’ve done some digging. The Romans founded a settlement at Eboracum, now called York, and built their first fortress there in AD 71. It was from there that the Ninth Legion marched with the Governor, Julius Agricola, to try to quell the tribes in the north and from Scotland.
“In around AD 99, it seems there was a Tribune with the Ninth Legion called Gallinas. He was an up and coming young commander in Britain, who later supported the Emperor Trajan in many of his campaigns against the Dacians. Now, there is an obscure text in the archives that describes a battle in northern England where the warriors from a large settlement of a sub-tribe of the larger Brigantes Tribe was subdued by Gallinas with a couple of Cohorts, so about fifteen hundred men took out a small group of rebellious tribesmen.
“Not much to write home about, you might think, except the text describes that shortly after the first battle was won against the tribesmen, the Romans were attacked by another group of warriors, which forced them to withdraw, allowing many of their captives to escape. The Roman historian plays down this incident, probably because it wouldn’t look good for the Governor back in Londinium, but he does mention the rumour or legend that this second band of warriors was comprised of only women, led by a woman called Layla.
“Now I checked, just in case I was screwing with history, but these weren’t the Iceni, so it was well after Boudicca’s time. In any case, this was further north, towards the border country with what is now Scotland. Layla and her Amazons taunted the Romans and, by using fast ponies, almost defeated them in a second battle. The Romans’ superior numbers and supreme discipline won in the end, capturing Layla and taking her south along with thirty other rebellious tribesmen as slaves or hostages. Few of the other women were captured, as Layla is re
puted to have held off the Romans on a bridge, almost single-handed, permitting all to escape to the hills.
“The settlement was discovered abandoned by a campaign several months later, and in fact, that region took a while to be completely subdued. They were not so much subdued by force of arms, but by civilisation. Many branches of the Brigantes Tribe made pacts with Rome, so that this part of the country was dominated by the Brigantes as a client of Rome; such was the way the Romans dominated and controlled their far-flung empire. The tribes were not very good at behaving themselves, and would often rise up, only to be squashed again. Now, the Ninth, or Hispanic legion, had a long and illustrious history in Britain. Its demise is somewhat mysterious, as suddenly all records disappear in about AD 105, leaving just the Sixth. Some claim they were wiped out in an attack on their fortified city at Eboracum (York), but others claim they were hastily withdrawn and moved, under a new number to Dacia to bolster Trajan’s army there. My research would favour the latter option.
“However, Gallinas was so captivated by her and impressed with her courage that he decided not to pursue the rest of the tribe at the time, preferring instead to return south to Eboracum to study his prize. From there, I believe, they returned to the south, and to Londinium, which had taken over from Camulodunum (Colchester) as the administrative and military centre of Britain. After spending a while in Londinium, they returned to Rome. Her skill at arms was so awesome, that he persuaded her to train some of his legion and other specially selected women, making her a centurion in charge of his personal all-women guard, for, ‘She was fearless and as strong as the mightiest warrior in the Roman legions’. That, my dear friend, is a description of me!”
“You?”
“Yup. You see, Gallinas returned to Rome as a hero, met Trajan, and Trajan was so impressed with the girl and her female warriors, he persuaded Gallinas to give Layla and her warriors to him. He did, but insisted he remain on Trajan’s staff of that legion, which, I suspect, was reorganised and renamed before being deployed in the East.
“From that research I deduce three things. One, I survive to get to London. Two, I stayed in London to effectively investigate the death of our agent and trace this Glax character. Now, if he’s trading in wares that women seek, then why not go as a woman. They wouldn’t suspect a beautiful woman on the arm of a Tribune or other senior Roman officer, would they?”
“They might, if you wander about in armour and with a sword strapped to your side.”
“Have you never heard of undercover?”
Michael chuckled.
“Then what?” he asked.
“Ah, yes; and three, I follow up the Glax end, with the ships’ destinations, and then go to Rome to sort out the next threat, which has to be Dacia. Now do you see what my plan is?”
Michael simply smiled, shaking his head.
“What makes you think that girl is you?”
“Who else would be foolish enough to want the job?” I asked, grinning.
“What happens if you turn up and she’s already there, leading the women into battle?”
“Nah, she won’t be. If she is, then I’ll revert to plan B.”
“Which is?”
“Stick around and see what transpires. It may be that she might need a good sergeant major.”
“Okay, my friend, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Michael, last time, I was Little Miss Tuffett. This time, I’m gonna be Little Miss Rough-it!”
In the rolling and heavily forested countryside that eventually would be either the county of Durham or perhaps Northumberland, I came across the fortified settlement by the fork in a wide river. Due to the steep, heavily forested hills all around them, the Romans hadn’t penetrated into this area yet. However, the men had ridden off to face the advancing columns, in a vain attempt to prevent their homes from being pillaged. This left the women, the old and very young behind with a small force of warriors to defend the keep. Once I found them, I had to work a plan as to how to ingratiate myself with them.
The settlement was quite large, certainly bigger than a village, almost as big as a small town, comprising of some three thousand people. It comprised of two concentric circles of earthen banks. Inside the inner, higher circle, there was a keep made from stone, wood and hardened mud. It was an early attempt at a fortified building, as a hundred warriors could defend it from attack by similarly armed soldiers.
Large sharpened stakes had been driven into the bank to prevent cavalry from assaulting the embankments. Wooden towers were built at the gates, so defence of the banks was relatively easy. Between the two circles were the many thatched huts in which the populace lived, probably with their livestock. The river formed a natural barrier to the west, as did the hills to the east, but it was vulnerable to an open attack from either the north or south.
The forest was thick and stretched for miles, with small open areas where men scratched a living from the soil. These forests were difficult to move an army through, but equally, they gave excellent cover for anyone who wished to approach unseen – friend or foe alike. Whoever ruled the forest, ruled the land.
It was early summer, probably late May or early June, but as the calendars weren’t that accurate yet, it was hard to say. It was much warmer than the start of my previous trip, so I felt in much better spirits, as I knew what to expect.
I knew that Gallinas would face the tribesmen in about two week’s time, about twenty miles south. The battle would end with the death of three hundred of the tribesmen, thirty-four Romans and some horses. Two hundred Britons would be initially taken as slaves/hostages while the others escaped to the hills, knowing that the Romans would make directly for their settlement.
If Layla already existed, then if the time-line was correct, she would already be here and the female warriors would already be training. If she wasn’t, then time was of the essence. I had to make contact quickly, and I just needed to do it in such a way as to make them trust me. As it happened, the opportunity came when I least expected it.
I had observed the settlement for a couple of days, and noted that the absence of male warriors meant that they had probably already ridden out to meet the Romans. There seemed no sign of the women training for anything.
Having made a small hide in which I could shelter, I had made a stout staff with one end sharpened by using a crude flint blade. I hoped to use it to spear some fish or even some game. I hadn’t really thought too much about it, but being naked made me feel especially defenceless, so it gave me a good feeling to have it.
I was sheltering from view in some trees at the edge of the great forest. This forest covered the greater extent of the country at this time, although, gradually the inhabitants were opening great swathes in it for their farms and livestock. Bears, boars, large cats and wolves abounded, so it really was a wilderness.
Some women were about fifty metres away, washing clothes in the river. Using the large flat boulders at the edge of the river, they whacked and bashed the clothes on them, as their voices carried on the wind. I was hoping I could sneak in and help myself to some clothing whilst their attention was diverted. Fate had other ideas.
Two small children, no bigger than toddlers, were playing at the edge of the water. In their play, they wandered a little further than they meant to, and certainly out of immediate sight or control of their mothers, or whoever was looking after them.
A young brown bear, of around fifty pounds was in the river, probably searching for fish. It turned, saw the children and issued a short cry. The cub’s mother came from the bushes and stood in front of the children, protecting her cub.
She roared and waved her claws. The children screamed and alerted the women who came looking for them. They were still too far away, so I decided to act. Grasping my staff, I burst from my spot and screamed at the bear, running as fast as I could towards it. The bear, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, turned and cuffed her cub to make off into the forest, following close b
ehind.
I stood guard while the distraught mothers collected their respective bawling children and made their way back to their washing, and then to the settlement. Two women other approached me.
“I’m Micalla. I’m the chieftain’s wife. Who are you?” the older one asked. She looked over fifty, but I guessed that she was in her thirties. She spoke a dialect that was Celtish in origin. Fortunately, my downloads included all languages of the old world, so I was able to understand, despite it being odd and with a weird accent.
“My name is Layla,” I said. I knew that this was the crucial moment. If a Layla already existed, then there would be confusion. If not, then I was in!
The two women seemed quite excited about this, both folding to their knees and averting their eyes. I must have looked quite spectacular, for I was six feet tall, with long fair hair down to the small of my back and naked as the day I was created, which was today, incidentally.
“Thank you for saving the children, oh Goddess, what can we do to serve you?” Micalla asked.
“Goddess?”
It was my turn to be surprised.
Neither woman would look at me, but gradually Micalla told me what I wanted to know. I found out Layla was the name of a spirit Goddess that supposedly lived in the forest. I decided it was time to change the subject, although I was careful not to correct their mistake, yet!
“Your men have gone to fight the invaders, have they not?” I asked.
“Yes, some six days ago.”
“They have yet to fight, but when they do, they will be defeated and many shall die. Some will be taken captive and I am here to help you affect their release and try to drive the invaders back.”
The women seemed alarmed and not a little distraught at the news I imparted, but not altogether surprised, I guessed. Certainly, there did not appear to be a second Layla in competition.
“How? We are but women!”
“Women bear the pain of childbirth, the burden of keeping their home, their men and the children, as well as growing the crops, keeping the livestock and repairing the house. How hard must it be to expect such people to become warriors too?”