He nodded. ‘I have seen the ring, and the finger is then my friend’s? And you carry it around? Did you cut it off?’ he said, silkily, smoothly.
‘I did cut it off though not from your friend. The man died at Segestes’s orders, for I told him my name on a muddy yard where dogs tried to eat me,’ I said. ‘Segestes would not want Rome to know he held a man of hers a slave.’
‘Whose finger is this if you did not cut it from him?’ he asked, mystified by the disgusting lump of meat.
‘When you see Segestes next time, you will know,’ I told him, and he smiled quickly, running his hands through his hair.
After awhile he looked up to me. ‘It is an intricate situation. You can appreciate it?’
I nodded.
‘Heads may fall, men could die on the roads. Worthy men,’ he continued, and I said nothing.
‘I will show the ring to the man next door, and thank him, then send him away. I will tell him I will write a report of a nine fingered murderer though who the man is, I do not yet know. Segestes will understand to keep his peace, perhaps,’ he told me as he stared at the ring. ‘It will go to the family, of course,’ he murmured, and I nearly chuckled. ‘Did he have anything else? He was a rich man,’ he mused, and I cursed silently.
‘Yes Lord, he did, let me see,’ I turned and took a few very precious ornaments from the pouch and laid them on the desk.
He glanced at them, happily.
He pointed his pen at me. ‘I will send the legate of the XVII a report, and hopefully it will go through to Drusus. You will stay here.’
‘Sir? Can I write to Chariovalda? Or travel to him? I’d be back.’ I had promised Thusnelda I would help Sigimer, but I did not trust the legate.
He leaned forward, his face full of simmering anger at my resistance. ‘You will stay here in case you are a liar, and I have to do something about it. I won’t send you through, and you are mad to think you can get back after the snow hits us fully. The report will indeed move, but you will not, and you will not send out alternative reports to muddy the waters. It would make me look incompetent, a fool, even. You will obey me. Come spring, we will crush the Cherusci and the Chatti, no matter who betrays whom and, of course, our commander will be kept alive.’
‘Yes, sir,’ I told him, eyeing him with doubt.
He eyed me back, thrumming his fingers on the desk. ‘Fine then. You will rejoin the Batavi. What do you wish to do here? We have some twenty Batavi, but they have a Decurion.’
I nodded. ‘I have a man of my own, and we will sort it out with the Decurion.’
‘You have two, actually,’ he said thinly, nodding to himself as if trying to remember a face.
‘Two sir?’
‘A man named Fulcher, a Batavi has been here, on and off, riding out there, trying to find you. As it happens, he is here now. You will find him in your quarters,’ he said. ‘He sings, very well. We would like to keep him alive this winter if you can arrange it.’
‘Can I go see him,’ I said, my voice trembling with anticipation.
‘You can, after you take care of the wound,’ he said, smiling at the pool of blood at my feet. ‘Lucius! Take him to the healer. Then feed the bearded fool.’
Lucius came to fetch me. ‘As it would happen, she is outside,’ he told me.
‘She?’ I asked and then saw Cassia, beautiful Cassia talking with Mathildis.
‘I introduced them. She was really keen to know your wife,’ Lucius said with a nasty laugh and stepped far away as Cassia stormed for me.
‘You married that harlot?’ she shrieked, her beautiful face a thing of raging fire, and she struck me so hard I flew on my ass and screamed from the pain.
CHAPTER 22
She was not happy.
She was hissing like a cat while daubing something tangy on my wound, plastering a bandage on it. Eventually, I began to pick up words in the strange, unnerving, but definitely disapproving noise that drifted from between her lips. She was speaking half in Gaulish, partly in Latin and probably added some Germani words into the mix. I said nothing, for I was strangely happy. I waited until she slowed down, and I now made out the words “goat” and “a bastard snake of Bel” and also “a filthy womanizer,” but I figured it was best to wait until she could breathe fully. I half wished Brimwulf and Mathildis had stayed in the room, but they had decided to give me privacy with Cassia. Finally, she slapped my other bottom with her hand, and I was sure it left a red mark and the slap could be heard all the way to the gates.
‘Why?’ she said, looking steadily at my eyes.
‘Why did I lie about marrying her?’ I asked, and her eyes went into thin slits of suspicion. She tugged at her dark braid and shook her head empathetically.
‘Did you lie?’ she asked me, poking a long nail at my chest.
‘It’s a long story, love,’ I said and tried to coax her closer. ‘But I am not married. Nor, in truth, have I slept with another woman.’ She looked just as beautiful as she had the day I had rescued her from Varnis though her hair was longer and under her eyes there were rings of dark. She was a healer in the castra, and she wore a stained grey tunic that covered her shapely body all the way to her knees, and there was a thick, practical cloak hung over her shoulders, which had stains of blood. She had been waiting for me for well over a year, probably sure I was dead. ‘I’m happy you did not marry, either,’ I said and as she arched her eyebrow. I frowned. ‘You did not?’
‘Chariovalda kept flirting at me,’ she stated maliciously.
‘He is married! And old!’
‘He is a all that, but also wonderful goat who would have refused if I had surprised him by saying yes,’ she said with a smile. ‘It is his way. But yes, many men have wanted me. Married and single men. I have been living amongst them for this past year. And why? Because you left me in fucking Castra Vetera to go and warn your Drusus, and you promised to come right back!’ That was not strictly true, I thought, but nodded meekly. And then you rode off after Armin. With Thusnelda on your lap!’
‘Cassia,’ I sighed, cursing Fulcher for sharing the lap riding detail with her. ‘I have missed you.’ She raised her hand to silence me, and I wanted to touch her half-relieved, half-enraged face. She probably had no doubts about my fidelity, but she needed to whip me for something, and I was ready to let her do it. Her full bosom was heaving angrily. I had loved her the past year, the thought of her had kept me sane and nothing Segestes had done to me could take her love from me. I had seen that with Mathildis. ‘I could never have dreamt of finding you here,’ I told her gently. ‘How come you are here, anyway?’ I asked as I tried to pull the unwilling woman towards me. The barracks were empty, men on duty, some on patrol, others tending the horses, and it was uncannily silent.
She took a step forward, a tentative one. ‘Fulcher told them I am his wife.’ She blushed. ‘But it is not the same as what you did with that girl—’
I laughed and pulled her to me, but she arched her back away from me as if I was dog’s vomit. ‘I claimed to have bedded her, love. That way I made her father mad, very mad, mad enough to drag me to the woods, and there I killed him. The only thing I know, Cassia, is that when I nearly died ...’
‘Again,’ she said softly, putting a hand on my cheek.
‘Again,’ I agreed, ‘ I only thought about you and Lif. I failed at saving her, and I failed Drusus with Armin, but right now? Right this moment? I am happier than I have been in ages.’
She nodded, blushing, still scowling. ‘If you die, Hraban, I will take your skull, boil it, kick it around to rattle the last vestiges of idiocy from it and plant flowers in it, so that something useful will grow out of it. I have been so scared this past year. I nearly lost hope several times.’ We held each other, and I forgot about everything that had been haunting my thoughts lately.
The door opened.
Fulcher entered, covered in snow, his spear coming first. We got up and faced each other. He smiled one of his rare smiles. ‘Lord, I see y
ou found your way home. I have been looking for you,’ he said happily, but then he squared his shoulders and the smile disappeared. ‘I am sorry I failed to find you. They tried to kill me out there, many times. Caught me once. But I escaped.’
‘The only one who failed, Fulcher, is I. Come,’ I said, got up, ran to him, and we embraced. ‘You are worth a dozen men, and I have failed you more than you have me.’ He grinned. ‘Tell me of Drusus,’ I said. ‘Of Chariovalda.’
He sat down, and Cassia gave him ale as I sat on a bed across from him. ‘Drusus gave me leave to search for you. He sent messengers to Segestes, even Armin. Sent that Tribune Paullus gods-know-what-his-last-name-is here with a task of finding you. After Arbalo, he visited Segestes not far from here. Segestes said he had not seen you, promised to search for you and so, eventually, Drusus had to leave. Arbalo was a mess. I hear they did very well this year with your father and the Chatti, though. What happened to you? And did you know Hard Hill is taken?’
I nodded, tired. I rubbed my face. ‘I know about Hard Hill. And I know more. Segestes is an ally to my father. And both are allied to the Romans who wish Drusus dead. I still have Lif to rescue, but we have to warn Drusus. I am not allowed to send a word out, though. That Paullus promised to, but I don’t trust any man with the life of my lord.’
‘Segestes is like Maroboodus?’ Fulcher asked. ‘I am not surprised. He is a snake. So, they will concoct a plan, and if Drusus marches with Segestes, his treason will allow your father … I see.’ He was nodding sagely as he contemplated our dilemma. ‘I think I know a way to send a scroll out.’
‘You do?’ I asked.
‘Yes. I know a man,’ he smiled
‘Do it,’ I said. ‘No, I will write it.’
Cassia nodded, sitting next to me on a bed and held my hand fiercely. ‘Now we can only wait, love.’
‘I have something else to do first,’ I said hollowly.
Cassia frowned. ‘Hraban? What are you planning? And is it something we should be afraid of?’ Fulcher also fixed an eye on me, his eyes goading me to speak up.
I sighed and did. ‘Thusnelda helped me escape. All I should do now is to find a way to get to Chariovalda or find a man to get a message across to Drusus. I should leave and find Drusus as winter is a long time to do nothing, and he could plan on how to deal with Segestes. But it is more complicated, this situation.’
‘And it’s about Thusnelda?’ Cassia said, sitting next to me. ‘And the fact she helped you. You made her an oath.’ Her voice was very accusatory, and I blanched, rubbed my neck and nodded.
‘Armin. I swore to Thusnelda to help Armin.’
‘Wait. You will change sides?’ Fulcher asked, holding his head. ‘This is very confusing.’
‘No, I won’t change sides, but I will do something for Armin,’ I told them, knowing they would not understand. ‘I promised her, and she aided me. Armin will be dead if he is alone when Drusus comes. They will hunt him down, and while that would be great for Rome, I made this promise to give him a fighting chance, to make sure he will survive. They need Inguiomerus to be able to fight. And they have to break up Segestes’s army. The man who can do this is Armin’s father. So, I need to free Sigimer.’
‘His father? He has not been seen since the battle at the ford,’ Cassia said in shock and breathed deep, frustrated. ‘This sounds mad. Where is he held a prisoner?’
‘It is,’ I agreed. ‘Odo has him. Tried to trade him and my ring for me,’ I said with a disgusted grimace.
‘Fucking Odo?’ Fulcher laughed. ‘This circle is small.’
I went on. ‘So, I will rescue Sigimer from Odo. In doing so, I will rescue the ring and help Armin. I will spare Lif as well, maybe, if Odo falls. I want to make sure he does. I will take Sigimer to Armin or let him go, and then I will serve Drusus. We will deal with Segestes and perhaps my father, who will ride here next year.’
They stared at me as in stupefied silence.
Finally, Fulcher laughed, dryly. ‘You will aid Armin and then Drusus?’
‘Yes.’
He rubbed his face tiredly. ‘Not much has changed then! Your oaths. You have to learn to make them and then just simply break them and don’t you already have a name to match? Why not break this? It was given to an enemy.’
I pointed a finger at him. ‘Didn’t you teach me about honor.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘but there are limits to upholding your honor, as well. This is dangerous and foolish.’
‘You were not held my Segestes, and did not endure Ragwald’s and Helmut’s abuse. I owe Thusnelda.’
Cassia grabbed my hand and turned me to face her. ‘Be that as it may, Fulcher is right. And how will elevating Armin help Drusus?’ Cassia asked, exasperated. ‘This plan will get many Romans killed. And that will take away your favor with Drusus, your new plans and any possibility for a home. If you get caught. And, of course, you will!’
I rubbed my face. ‘I had to free myself, and this is the price of it. I had to be free for you, for myself, for Drusus as well. Drusus will have his legions, Segestes will be weak and exposed and in the end, the Roman army will defeat the Germani. But yes, it is a mess.’ I tapped my knee nervously until Cassia grabbed it.
‘Right,’ Fulcher said, unconvinced, and I scowled as the two shook their heads at each other.
‘How many men does Odo have?’ I asked.
Fulcher frowned. ‘They hide someplace to the east. I had not seen them when I looked for you. Nor heard of them. Do you know more? Or anyone who does?’
‘I have an archer who knows the land,’ I told him. ‘He will find the way to Gulldrum.’
‘He will?’ Fulcher said with a raised eyebrow. ‘I doubt he can find them if I can’t.’
‘He is a good scout,’ I explained, and Fulcher went red from the face. He was proud of his skills in the wilds. ‘He knows the land, I said.’
Cassia poked me painfully. ‘He will have lots of men! Odo will have lots and lots of men.’
‘Rabble,’ I told her with a wry smile. ‘But yes.’
Fulcher snorted. ‘We will need men of our own, Hraban. And we serve the Roman army. We don’t just come and go as we please!’ Fulcher complained, but I raised my hand to calm him.
‘I know,’ I said. ‘But there are Batavi here, no? And their job is to scout? To kill suspicious bastards they run into out there and not hunker in the castra?’
‘They have a Decurion and the commander of the Castra might not let them ride around looking for strange bands of beggars!’ Cassia seethed. ‘Paullus is not the most active commander, but he will not let you run the castra. And there is the senior Centurion who will have needs for the cavalry and so you—’
‘But this particular Decurion is not a worthy man for the job,’ I stated. ‘He works for Segestes.’
‘He does?’ Fulcher said thinly, nodding. ‘Would make sense. I’m pretty sure someone has shared my plans with the local Cherusci. As I said, I was nearly killed once. ‘
‘Thusnelda told you this as well?’ Cassia said with an arched eyebrow. ‘My, but you got close.’
‘She is a friend! Or became one. She has tried to have me killed twice at least!’
‘Right,’ she said icily. ‘And now she will have my man riding after a thousand mad vitka.’
‘Only one mad vitka,’ I corrected her.
‘How in Hel’s name do you know? Have you been to Gulldrum?’ she hissed at me.
I gave her a begging look, which she ignored, and so I turned to Fulcher. ‘What is the Decurion like? This Lothar.’
‘Boisterous, lazy, unusually refined in his tastes. Has strange businesses with the merchants. There is this shack by the harbor where he stores stuff he steals and where he runs his shady businesses. He is unusually … rich,’ Fulcher said, and nodded at Cassia, reluctantly. ‘And he—’
She looked embarrassed. ‘He has been courting me. Unsuccessfully,’ she finished, daring me to say something of the matter.
‘And y
ou call me a goat?’ I stated nonetheless. ‘And yes, he might be unusually rich. He has rubbed himself on Segestes. What does he look like?’
She shrugged. ‘Hairy, blond ringlets, tall, muscular. Boring,’ she added hastily, and I laughed at her discomfort. ‘I have been avoiding him,’ she told me, aggressively pushing me over the bed.
‘He is my superior?’ I asked as I picked myself up with Fulcher’s help.
‘You are both of equal rank, but the men are his, and he holds the Batavi command in the castra. I know not. His job is to scout, sometimes put down rebellions in the villages, small butchery work with bandits,’ Fulcher told me tiredly. ‘Few like him. He has two men who run his errands and who guard him.’
‘Where does he spend his time?’ I asked them, fingering my sword.
Fulcher sighed as he saw that. ‘I see. I see. At the village, a tavern, full of rabble. He has a taste for the wine there. The ale is terrible. And there are the occasional women there, as well.’
‘Fine husband for you, Cassia, no?’ I teased her, and she fumed. ‘We need to go there.’
‘Why?’ asked Fulcher. ‘Not that I have any doubt we do, but why?’
‘I will need to defend my woman,’ I said with the grin. ‘And I need his men.’
‘Oh!’ Fulcher grinned.
‘And he is our enemy,’ I added. ‘And he knows someone who is Odo’s servant in the town. They set up their deals here. I need to blind Segestes to my doings, and I will need to speak to this man of Odo’s. About Gulldrum, Sigimer, Odo.’
‘And you will ask Lothar who this person is?’ Cassia asked. ‘Gods help us. You are only two men!’
‘Just don’t get us into trouble,’ Fulcher said carefully and shook off his gloom. ‘Good to have you back,’ he grinned. ‘Even if I think you should forget your oaths to Thusnelda. I feel it changes things. It will get people hurt.’ His eyes were glazed as he spoke, and I looked away, hating his sight.
Cassia turned me around. ‘Listen to him. Is there any way we could just go west and live in peace? You and I have survived your father, though only barely. Now this Segestes is out there. You have to save Armin and Drusus? Kill Odo? And they are all coming here.’
The Winter Sword: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 3) Page 26