by Ben Kane
Enjoying his moment of victory, Ammias paused.
Romulus knew that death was an instant away. When the sword came down, his life would be over. A procession of thoughts flashed through his mind. Now there would be no chance to help Brennus. Or Tarquinius. No possible return to Rome. No reunion with Fabiola. And no revenge on Gemellus.
Had Jupiter and Mithras protected him for so long, only for him to die like a dog?
Scrabbling with his fingernails at the hard earth, Romulus managed to scoop up a small handful.
Grimacing, the veteran thrust downwards.
Ignoring the agony from his ribs, Romulus rolled to one side, sweeping up his arm at the same time. Ammias’ move brought him within reach, and at the last moment, the young soldier opened his hand. Particles of dirt filled his enemy’s eyes and his gladius plunged into the ground, missing Romulus by a handbreadth.
Blinded, Ammias cried out in agony.
Romulus seized the moment and punched him in the solar plexus, badly bruising his right fist against the veteran’s chain mail.
Letting go of his sword hilt, Ammias went down, his mouth open in an ‘O’ of surprise.
A shocked silence fell over the assembled soldiers.
Holding his ribs with his left hand, Romulus got to his knees.
Beside him, Ammias was rolling around, trying to find his gladius.
Romulus got there first. Pulling it free with a grunt of effort, he smashed the flat of the blade across his enemy’s face. There was a sound of cartilage breaking, which was followed by a strangled cry. Ammias reeled backwards, clutching his ruined nose. Blood poured from between his fingers; his eyes were inflamed and full of grit. He was no longer capable of fighting. Romulus briefly considered killing him. After all, Ammias was one of the men who had tried to murder him on multiple occasions, had been instrumental in turning the whole legion against him. But he was unarmed and unable to defend himself. Ripping Ammias’ scutum from his grip, Romulus stood.
He was no cold-blooded murderer. And Brennus needed his help.
With his opponent already weakened by blood loss, Optatus was doing his level best to kill the Gaul. It was only Brennus’ huge strength that had allowed him to continue resisting the legionary’s skilful attacks. When Optatus saw Romulus running over, his efforts redoubled. Punches with his shield were followed instantly by thrusts of his gladius. It was a deadly one-two combination and difficult to resist for long.
Ignoring the waves of pain from his broken ribs as best he could, Romulus neared the pair. Finally Optatus had to turn and face him.
‘On your own now,’ said Romulus, buying time. ‘How do you like that?’
Optatus could see the young soldier’s sides heaving, could imagine why he was winded. ‘Two injured slaves,’ he replied, his top lip lifting with contempt. ‘I’ll kill you both!’
It was a bad mistake. While they were talking, Brennus had retrieved Novius’ sword and shield. Despite his injury, the Gaul was now a second deadly opponent.
A moment later, the friends were poised on either side of the big legionary.
Optatus was no coward. He made no attempt to surrender or to run. Instead, he turned this way and that, wondering who would attack first.
But Romulus and Brennus held back. Both were reluctant to kill Optatus.
Sensing their indecision, the veteran lunged forward at Romulus.
He moved back a step, taking the blow on his shield. Optatus did not let up, thrusting again and again at Romulus’ face with his gladius. Without doubt, he was the toughest of the legionaries. If he could overcome the young soldier, there was a chance of his beating Brennus.
The Gaul could not stand by any longer. As Optatus drew back another time, he leaned in and sliced the veteran’s left hamstring with his blade.
Optatus collapsed with a loud groan, instinctively holding up his shield to protect himself. Still he asked for no quarter. Yet, lying on his back, he now had no chance at all.
Grudging admiration filled Romulus at his bravery. He looked to Pacorus for a similar reaction. Brennus did likewise.
It was not forthcoming. The commander’s face was creased with anger. Novius and his cronies had lied to him. Romulus’ and Brennus’ clemency to the veterans clearly demonstrated that. He snapped out an order and his archers raised their bows.
Romulus realised what was about to happen. ‘No!’ he cried.
Brennus closed his eyes. He had seen things like this all too often.
A dozen arrows hummed through the air. Six pinned Optatus to the ground, while the remainder spitted Ammias through the chest and abdomen. Both were killed instantly.
Silence fell over the intervallum. Reaching into their quivers, the warriors fitted new shafts to their bowstrings.
‘So die all those who lie to me,’ shouted Pacorus, the veins in his neck bulging. ‘I am the commander of the Forgotten Legion!’
Unwilling to meet his furious stare, the audience of soldiers looked down. Even Vahram avoided Pacorus’ eyes.
Romulus and Brennus moved closer together, uncertain how the volatile Parthian would react next.
Another order from the commander rang out.
At full draw, the archers’ bows swung to cover the two friends.
Chapter XIV: A New Ally
Rome, winter 53/52 BC
‘Only devotees may enter the Mithraeum,’ said Secundus in a hard voice. ‘And death is the penalty for those who break that rule.’
Fabiola trembled. In this, the centre of his power, she saw him in an entirely different light. Now Secundus was a tall, powerful figure, his authority exuding from every pore. Produced from a wooden chest, a golden staff had appeared in his left hand and a red Phrygian cap sat on his head. This was no impoverished army cripple, begging for a coin to feed himself. The face that Secundus gave to the world outside was a complete facade.
Ringing them angrily, his men shouted in agreement.
‘Take her up to the courtyard,’ Secundus ordered. ‘Make it quick.’
Without a chance to explain herself further, Fabiola was bundled towards the passageway to the stairs.
By entering the Mithraeum, she had unknowingly crossed an invisible line. Mithras had shown her where Romulus might be, but now she was going to die. As her brother would, if he was present at the battle she had seen. If the vision was real at all, Fabiola thought bitterly. What had the strange-tasting liquid done to her mind?
Curious to know before the end, she threw a question at Secundus. ‘What’s in the phial?’
The veterans holding her faltered.
‘Wait!’ snapped Secundus. His face had gone pinched. ‘You drank from this?’ he said slowly, lifting the blue glass from the altar top.
She nodded.
Seeing that it was empty, Secundus’ nostrils flared with fury.
Swords slid from scabbards at the new outrage, but he raised a hand to stop any hasty action. ‘Did you see anything?’ he asked quietly.
Fabiola tensed, aware that everything hinged upon her answer. Faced with death, she wanted life.
‘Answer me,’ muttered Secundus, ‘or, by Mithras, I will slay you here and now.’
Fabiola closed her eyes, asking the warrior god for his help. The truth, she thought. Tell the truth. ‘I became a raven,’ she said loudly, thinking that the men listening would laugh. ‘Flying high over a strange land.’
Disbelieving gasps met her comment. She heard the word ‘Corax’ whispered repeatedly.
‘You’re sure?’ Secundus barked. ‘A raven?’
Fabiola stared into his eyes. ‘I am.’
He looked confused.
‘How can this be?’ demanded one veteran.
‘A woman as a sacred bird?’ cried another.
The chamber resounded with questions.
Secundus raised his arms for quiet. Remarkably, his men obeyed. ‘Tell me everything you saw,’ he said to Fabiola. ‘Do not leave out a single detail.’
Taking a dee
p breath, she began.
No one spoke as Fabiola recounted her vision. When she had finished, there was a stunned silence.
Secundus moved to stand before the three altars and the depiction of the tauroctony. Kneeling, he bent his head.
No one spoke, but the grip on Fabiola’s arms relaxed slightly. A sidelong glance at the veterans holding her revealed fear, and awe, in their expressions. She did not know what to think. If they believed in her vision, did that mean it could be relied upon?
After a few moments, Secundus bowed from the waist and got to his feet.
All his men tensed, eager to hear if the god had spoken.
‘She is not to be harmed,’ Secundus said, his eyes moving steadily around the room. ‘Anyone who drinks the homa and then dreams a raven is favoured by Mithras.’
The faces around Fabiola registered shock, disbelief and anger.
‘Even a woman?’ said the guard who had admitted them earlier. ‘But it’s forbidden!’
More dissenting voices joined in.
Secundus raised his arms for quiet, but the clamour grew louder.
‘This is blasphemy,’ shouted a figure near the back.
‘Kill her!’
A knot formed in Fabiola’s stomach. These tough ex-soldiers would show as little mercy as Scaevola’s fugitivarii.
Secundus watched without reacting. Eventually there was a brief lull in the noise.
‘I am the Pater,’ he announced in a firm voice. ‘Am I not?’
Men nodded their heads. The angry mutters died away, leaving a sullen silence.
‘Have I led you astray before?’
No one answered.
‘Well then,’ said Secundus. ‘Trust me now. Release her.’
To Fabiola’s amazement, the veterans holding her arms let go. They moved away awkwardly, avoiding her gaze.
‘Come here.’ Secundus, the Pater, was beckoning to her.
Feeling relieved yet scared, she moved to his side.
‘Back to your beds,’ ordered Secundus. ‘I will take charge of her.’
With plenty of backward glances, the hard-faced men did as they were told. A few moments later, Fabiola and Secundus were the only ones left in the underground chamber.
Fabiola raised an eyebrow. ‘The Pater?’
‘In the eyes of Mithras, I am their father,’ he answered. ‘As the most senior member of this temple, I am responsible for its security.’ Alone, Secundus seemed even more intimidating. He regarded her sternly. ‘You breached our trust to come in here without permission. Consider yourself lucky to be alive.’
Tears formed in Fabiola’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
‘It is done,’ said Secundus in a more forgiving tone. ‘Mithras works in strange ways.’
‘You believe me?’ she asked, her voice trembling.
‘I see no deceit in you. And you dreamt a raven.’
Fabiola had to ask. ‘Was my vision real?’
‘It was sent by the god,’ he replied evasively. ‘Yet the homa can take us far away. Too far sometimes.’
‘I saw Roman soldiers. And my brother’s friends,’ she protested. ‘About to fight a battle that no one could win. No one.’ Fat tears rolled down Fabiola’s cheeks.
‘What you observed may never happen,’ said Secundus calmly.
‘Or it has done so already,’ she retorted, filled with bitterness.
‘That is true,’ he acknowledged. ‘Visions can show all possibilities.’
Fabiola hunched her shoulders, trying to hold in the grief.
‘It is remarkable to have such a powerful dream after drinking homa for the first time,’ said Secundus. ‘And surely a sign from the god.’
‘Your men don’t seem convinced.’
‘They will obey my orders,’ said Secundus, frowning. ‘For the moment.’
Fabiola was somewhat relieved.
His next words were startling. ‘The first step in Mithraicism is to become a Corax. A raven. Many initiates never even see one.’ He stared at her. ‘Your vision means that we have met for a purpose.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Mithras reveals many things to me.’ Secundus smiled, infuriating Fabiola. She felt as if he was playing with her. ‘What are your plans?’
Fabiola reflected for a moment. She had originally intended to return to the latifundium. That was now impossible. So was staying in Rome. The uncertain political situation was proving to be even more dangerous than she had imagined and Scaevola was still at large in the city. Denied twice, the fugitivarius would not give up his pursuit of her now. Fabiola had no doubt about that. Yet without protection, where could she go? ‘I don’t know,’ Fabiola replied, eyeing the figure of Mithras hopefully.
‘You can’t stay here,’ he said. ‘My men wouldn’t stand for it.’
Fabiola was not surprised. She had broken one of the veterans’ most sacred rules, and the threats shouted at her would not go away.
‘More than one wants you dead for what was done here tonight.’
She was at his, and Mithras’, mercy. Closing her eyes, Fabiola waited for Secundus to go on.
‘Your lover is in Gaul with Caesar,’ he said. ‘Trying to quell Vercingetorix’s rebellion.’
Her heart rate quickened. ‘He is.’
‘Brutus can protect you.’
‘It’s hundreds of miles to the border,’ Fabiola faltered. ‘Even more beyond that.’
‘I will guide you,’ he announced.
She controlled her shock. ‘Why would you do this?’
‘Two reasons,’ grinned Secundus. He bowed towards the tauroctony. ‘One is that the god desires me to.’
‘And the second?’
‘Caesar needs all the help he can get in Rome,’ he answered with a sly wink. ‘We’ll see what he says to the offer of more than fifty veterans’ swords. If he agrees, we’ll get the recognition and pensions we deserve.’
It was a shrewd plan, thought Fabiola.
Years of absence from Rome had allowed Julius Caesar to write himself an undeniably impressive curriculum vitae: the conquest of Gaul and the immense wealth it yielded. Following this came incursions to Germania and Britannia, short but forceful campaigns to hammer home Rome’s military superiority to the natives of those areas. Kept up to date with every victory by Caesar’s messengers, the plebeians loved him for his dash and his martial tendencies.
Yet it was not enough: he was not daily on the ground in the city, pressing flesh, showing his face to the public, courting powerful nobles’ and senators’ favour. Bribes and the work of his minions could only do so much. Caesar still needed the influence of his surviving partner in the triumvirate: Pompey Magnus. Who, delighted by Crassus’ death in Parthia, was paying lip service to his erstwhile ally while simultaneously making friends with every little faction in the Senate. Few of these loved Caesar, Rome’s most illustrious general. As someone who had flouted the law before, he was too real a threat to the Republic. And now, with the political situation in real flux and anarchy threatening, Caesar was bogged down in Gaul for the foreseeable future. The offer of tough men in the capital would be tempting indeed.
‘You have my thanks,’ Fabiola said gratefully. ‘But there will be bandits on the way. And Scaevola and his fugitivarii might follow us.’
Seeing her involuntary glance at his stump, the veteran laughed. ‘It won’t just be me. We’ll have whatever comrades I can persuade.’
It only took Fabiola a moment to decide. The road north would be full of danger, and the situation in Gaul even more perilous. But what real option did she have?
Fabiola extended her arm in the man’s fashion. Secundus smiled and accepted the grip.
Leaving the city turned out to be a wise plan. The sun had barely risen before plumes of smoke filled the sky. Yet more buildings were going up in flames. The mob was making the most of the fact that the Senate was paralysed by a combination of corruption, indecision and infighting. As civilian politicians, the sen
ators were unprepared for, and rightly fearful of, such blatant, armed insurrection. The Republic’s military was almost never needed within Italy itself, and to avoid attempts on power, legionary garrisons were prohibited within many miles of Rome. This rule left the city vulnerable to precisely such civil unrest. Now, having burned down the capital’s most important building, Clodius’ men were brimming with confidence. And when Milo’s gladiators regrouped, they would want only one thing. Revenge.
Chaos had descended on Rome.
More violence was as inevitable as dusk followed dawn. Only trained soldiers could quell the bloodthirsty mobs, could bring safety to the warrens of dangerous streets and alleyways. Secundus and his men were too few to bring the situation under control. Crassus was gone to Hades and Caesar was far away. Without Pompey Magnus’ involvement, Rome’s future looked very bleak indeed. Unless they wished to see more public structures such as the markets and law courts, or even their own homes, burned down around their ears, the senators and nobles would have no choice but to ask for his help.
As they left the city walls behind, Fabiola remembered Brutus’ prediction of this exact manoeuvre by Pompey. This was the man who had outwitted Crassus to take the credit for quelling the Spartacus rebellion, and then done the same to the general Lucullus, after he had almost crushed Mithridates’ uprising in Asia Minor. Pompey was not about to be beaten to the ultimate prize. Bringing armed legionaries into the Forum Romanum for the first time since Sulla would give Pompey physical control of the Republic itself.
Yet the Senate had no other choice.
Five days later, it was as if the violence had never been. The screams of people caught up in the rioting had been replaced by birdsong, the creaking of the litter and the muttering of Secundus and his men. Leaning her head out of the litter’s side, Fabiola peered into the distance. Docilosa clicked her tongue disapprovingly, but Fabiola ignored her. Horrified at what had happened to Fabiola on the street, her middle-aged servant had refused point blank to be left behind. Glad to have the female company, Fabiola had not put up much protest. Now though, after bumping up and down for hours on end, she was bored. Snatching an occasional glance outside was perhaps not wise, but Fabiola needed to do so to stay sane.