Arminius

by Robert Fabbri

  Adgandestrius rode into the Harzland with two hundred of his warriors; they were in a celebratory mood with garlands tied to their spear tips and helms and adorning their horses’ bridles. Our people cheered them in as they climbed deeper into the range of hills that was the heart of the Cherusci homeland and all seemed to be well between the two tribes united in victory over Rome. The last time the Chatti had come this way in such great numbers was the raid on our people the year before my return; now they came in friendship – or so they thought.

  Adgandestrius, as was his due as king of the Chatti, was received by my father and was feasted in his longhouse along with his retinue; because of our mutual antipathy we were seated at different ends of the high table and managed only to exchange a brief nod of acknowledgement throughout the night. The following afternoon, after spending the morning sleeping off the inevitable hangover, Adgandestrius led his men southeast to Segestes’ settlement; my father and I followed, along with our households, a couple of hours behind.

  Now, I had not seen Segestes since Thusnelda had begged for his release in the clearing at the summit of the Kalk Riese; he had refused all offers of a reconciliation from my father and uncle, Inguiomer, throwing their generosity back in their faces despite the fact that it was him who had tried to betray us to Varus and would have happily seen us executed. He had not even invited us to the wedding, a fact that expressed itself in his greeting of my father.

  ‘You have a nerve to show up at the wedding of my daughter!’ Segestes shouted as he saw us riding through the gates of his settlement.

  My father waited until he had dismounted before replying: ‘As king of the Cherusci, I have a right to go where I please in this land. And do you know why that is, Segestes?’

  My father’s cousin scowled, but could not deny the truth of what my father had implied. ‘Because it is now free of the Romans?’

  ‘Bravo, Cousin; but had you had your way, my son would have been crucified as a traitor to Rome and we would still be a province. But today we shall put all of that behind us and celebrate.’ He stood in front of Segestes and opened his arms to him.

  There was complete silence around the compound as the two men regarded one another.

  Grudgingly, Segestes moved forward and submitted himself to his cousin’s embrace; his people and ours cheered as they thumped each other on the back. Inguiomer too embraced the errant cousin and then it was my turn. I slipped from my horse and approached the man who had tried to betray me to Varus just a few months ago.

  Segestes backed away as I neared him. ‘This I cannot do.’

  I smiled, cold and with narrowed eyes. ‘Are you afraid that your friends in Rome may hear of your embracing the architect of their defeat?’

  ‘You are not welcome here, Erminatz; for whatever reasons you might wish to think of you are not welcome at the marriage of my daughter.’

  ‘Don’t concern yourself on that account, Segestes; I’ll not be here for the wedding. I shall take some refreshment and then leave, seeing as my reception has been less than courteous. You have not grown so ill-mannered as to refuse food and drink to a traveller, have you?’

  The look on his face suggested that he would have liked to have refused me but could not be seen to do so before so many people. ‘Take what you wish and then leave.’

  ‘Thank you for that kind offer, Segestes; I shall take full advantage of it, you can be assured.’

  The feast had been set up outside Segestes’ longhouse, on many tables surrounding the oak at the centre of the settlement; its branches had been decorated with ribbons that hung to the ground and smoke from the fire pits, roasting game whole, swirled up about it. Everywhere the atmosphere was that of a holiday: children played in the warm sun as their parents sat around drinking, talking and laughing, waiting for the food to be ready and the feast to begin – the ceremony would only take place once all had eaten and drunk their fill so that the couple would not have to retire to the marriage bed on an empty stomach. Warriors competed in tests of strength, wrestling or lifting huge stones over their heads, whilst slaves went to and fro preparing the fare for their betters. A group of musicians with pipes and lyres struck up a merry tune and the youth of the village began a series of complicated dance steps beneath the oak whilst holding onto the ribbons flowing from it.

  I walked around, savouring this Germanic idyll, reflecting on how I was just about to ruin it and set myself on a path that would mean that there could never be friendship between the Chatti and the Cherusci again; however, seeing as that friendship was also impossible whilst Adgandestrius remained alive it seemed to me that there was nothing to lose and everything to gain in what I planned.

  And so I walked into Segestes’ longhouse.

  Thumelicatz held up his hand. ‘Mother, I think it would be appropriate for you to continue, for this is your entrance.’

  Thusnelda came forward from the shadow. ‘I remember it so well; I was being dressed by my mother and the better-born maidens of the settlement at the far end of my father’s longhouse. My spirits were low as there was only a matter of hours before the ceremony would take place and it looked as if, despite what he had said on the Kalk Riese, Erminatz was not going to be able to change my plans. I fidgeted as my ladies tried to fasten my dress and plait my hair, threading flowers through the tresses; and then a shadow appeared in the doorway and my heart leapt, Erminatz had come for me. My mother shouted at him to leave, no men were allowed in the longhouse as the bride was being readied, and he did so without saying a word; but his very presence was enough for me to know what he expected of me.

  ‘I now rushed, helping to tie my girdle and stepping into my slippers, so eager was I to put the mean-spirited Adgandestrius behind me. My father had arranged the marriage in the hope that he could persuade the Chatti into a far more pro-Roman policy, one I would be ashamed of and ashamed to have been a tool in bringing it about. How could he think that my virginity could be used to buy our subjugation? But he was always a weak man who worshipped strength in others because he could find little in himself.

  ‘Happy with my appearance, I almost skipped outside to find that the feast was ready and my father was waiting for me.

  ‘“Today you will make me proud,” he said, stepping back and admiring my hair.

  ‘“I hope so, Father,” I replied and I really meant it for I did hope that he would someday understand that I did the right thing.

  ‘I took his arm and he led me to the table of honour at the head of the feast. Here he placed me to his left whilst Adgandestrius took the seat to his right. We sat and broke bread and my father proposed many toasts to us and our happiness, but if he really was concerned about that then perhaps he should have consulted me in my choice for a husband. After many horns had been drunk, my father suddenly stared ahead of him and then pointed at Erminatz who was seated far down the tables. “What are you still doing here?” he roared, getting to his feet and spilling his drinking horn over his lap. “I thought you said you would leave after you had taken some refreshment.”

  ‘Erminatz looked unperturbed at this outburst; all conversation stopped and he became the centre of attention. He deliberately finished the mouthful that he was chewing and then washed it down with a long, slow slug of ale. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand he stood, stepping back over the bench, and said: “I still haven’t finished taking my refreshment, Segestes, but seeing as you seem so anxious for me to be gone I shall show more grace than you have in throwing me out, by complying with your wishes. However, there is one more piece of refreshment that I wish to take.” He raised an arm and a rider appeared leading a horse. As it drew near, Erminatz jumped into the empty saddle and kicked the horse forward in a walk to come to a stop in front of the high table.

  ‘Erminatz looked down at Adgandestrius and said: “Tell me, how would it feel for your woman to always be thinking of another each time you bed her?”

  ‘Adgandestrius returned the look, hatred in his eyes. “You
should know, Erminatz.”

  ‘He replied: “I don’t; but I am going to do you a favour and ensure that you will never have that humiliation; although why I should help you is beyond me.” With a quick glance in my direction, Erminatz eased his horse side-on to the table.

  ‘I reacted immediately, pushing myself up from my seat and clambering onto the table. “I choose Erminatz!” I shouted as I leapt behind him, my legs astride the mount and my arms about his waist. “Let no one here say that I did not go of my own volition.”

  ‘My love swung his horse around as uproar broke out; he pushed it into a gallop with Aldhard, the second rider, following us. Before anyone could react we were through the gates and heading like the wind to the northwest. I held onto the man to whom I planned to dedicate the rest of my life and laughed at his audacity; and he laughed too for we were together for the first time and hoped that it would be this way for ever.

  ‘However, we were not bargaining for the wickedness of kin.’

  CHAPTER XV

  ‘THE WICKEDNESS OF kin,’ Thumelicatz ruminated, each syllable stretched and stressed. ‘How our lives have been blighted by the wickedness of kin, eh, Mother? Betrayed to Germanicus by your own father and given to Rome whilst pregnant with Erminatz’s child in revenge for him taking you away on the day you were due to marry Adgandestrius. Segestes even travelled to Rome two years later as a guest of Tiberius to watch his own daughter and grandson – me, born in captivity – being paraded as trophies in Germanicus’ Triumph. What wickedness to gloat at your own daughter’s misfortune that you have brought about because of your hatred for your cousin’s son and now son-in-law. And then to … but no, that comes at the end of my father’s story; we mustn’t skip that far ahead. But my father’s narrative does jump; it jumps four years to the year before my mother’s betrayal. Aius will read.’

  Happiness is not a commodity that’s easy to come by in our world and although we wanted no one else other than each other we were not destined to be together for long. I still pray that one day we will be reunited and I shall meet the son I have never seen, a gift to replace our daughter who was stillborn in the second year of our marriage; but that is, perhaps, for another day.

  My supposition that there would be at least a year before any retaliation proved correct; Tiberius raided across the Rhenus two years after Varus’ defeat. However, instead of the weather influencing my story at this point another factor came into play: age. Augustus was ageing and fading; he recalled his heir, Tiberius, to Rome and decreed that the empire should have its border on the Rhenus and go no further. It seemed that we had won and our freedom was now guaranteed, which was just as well seeing as the meeting of the kings that I had called at the Kalk Riese had proved inconclusive since none were willing to accept me as the leader of a united Germania and a suitable alternative acceptable to all could not be found; but Augustus’ decree meant that the need for unity had disappeared. Rome, theoretically, was never going to come back so therefore we were free to return to our old ways. And for three more years that’s what we did.

  The mutiny of the Rhenus legions on Tiberius’ ascension further fed our sense of security and so it came as a shock when the news broke in October of that same year that the lands of the Marsi had been ravaged by the new Roman general in the north, my old acquaintance, Germanicus. Thousands had been put to the sword and the Eagle of the Nineteenth had been recovered. The speed of the campaign had been breathtaking and had caught all by surprise; but its timing was the one thing that was in our favour, if we could mobilise. October can be a harsh month on the northern plain along the line of the Lupia and there was a good chance that we could fall on Germanicus’ army as it retreated to its base on the west bank of the Rhenus; a second Teutoburg Wald was possible.

  I sent messages to all the kings, begging them to come to the Lupia and set off with as many of my warriors as I could muster in the short time that I had. With less than three hundred men – but with the promise of more to come – I came to the fort of Aliso in the southern lands of the Bructeri to find that what we had left in ruins had been rebuilt. There was no one there to meet me other than Engilram with four thousand of his men; four half-strength legions and the similar amount of auxiliaries faced us. But battle was not on Germanicus’ mind as the weather had closed in and the ground was sodden, winter was nigh and he was withdrawing; a paltry force such as ours was not worth the few lives that it would have taken to defeat us and so he pulled back along the road knowing I was powerless to stop him.

  ‘No one else will come,’ Engilram said as we watched the last cohort disappear from sight. ‘The Marsi are too battered and the rest of the northern tribes are worried about giving you another victory over Rome.’

  I looked at him, incredulous. ‘Giving me another victory? Surely it’s giving us another victory?’

  ‘That’s not how Adgandestrius sees it; he’s the one who’s been working against you, making the others fear your ambition.’

  ‘The short-sighted, mean-minded—’

  ‘Aggrieved and humiliated proud man,’ Engilram interrupted. ‘You were wrong to take Thusnelda from him in such a public way.’

  ‘Right or wrong, surely the chance of spilling Roman blood outweighs his anger at me?’

  ‘You know that can never be true. But there’ll be other occasions in the next few years; Germanicus will be back again and that reality will focus a few of the more pragmatic kings. You may well get some unity then; in the meantime my warriors will harry them all the way to the Rhenus just to let them know that we still have teeth.’

  I thanked the old king of the Bructeri and, cursing the perfidy of Adgandestrius, returned to the Harzland.

  But the gods have a way of bringing a proud man around, for the next year it was the Chatti who were the target; but I was elsewhere.

  ‘My father, Segestes, came to our settlement after the summer solstice whilst Erminatz was away,’ Thusnelda said, silencing Aius with a sharp hand gesture. ‘He came under a branch of truce, saying that he wanted to talk with me. I thought nothing of it as I hadn’t spoken with him since that day Erminatz stole me from under his nose four years previously. He and his escort were allowed through the gates; there were few warriors around as most were accompanying my husband as he went about the thanes who had some sympathy for my father’s pro-Roman stance, trying to dissuade them of their opinion; and that is what he took advantage of.

  ‘“You want to talk to me, Father,” I said as he came through the door of our longhouse with two of his warriors behind him.

  ‘“No, bitch, there’s nothing to say,” he retorted. His two men grabbed me, hitting me across the back of the head, and hauled me, semi-conscious, from the house. Outside the rest of his men had formed a cordon; I was slung across a horse and before I could gather my senses we had ridden down the few warriors who had tried to block the gate and were away back to his settlement that had been recently strengthened judging by the work that had been done on the palisade.

  ‘For half a moon I was kept prisoner, locked in a storeroom, and it was with the passing of that moon that I realised that I was pregnant again and I wept. But the tears did not last for long for, when I woke the following morning, my love had come for me; from my prison I could see naught but I could hear: from all angles came the sound of shouting. We were surrounded and under siege.’ Thusnelda nodded to Aius. ‘Take it from that point.’

  Aius scanned down the scroll.

  I grabbed the kneeling captive’s hair, yanking it back, and then prised out his left eye with the tip of my dagger. I waited until his screams subsided. ‘I’ll ask you one more time: where is she being kept?’

  ‘In a storeroom at the back of the main longhouse.’

  I looked in his one remaining eye and could see that he was telling the truth; I gestured to Aldhard to let him grip his sword so that he would gain Walhalla dying with a weapon in his hand, then slit his throat and let him slump to the ground. ‘Aldhard, we’ll dig a
ditch all the way around the settlement; no one comes in or out until I have Thusnelda back.’

  He looked at me not understanding. ‘But who will do the digging?’

  ‘My warriors.’

  ‘You can’t ask them to do slaves’ work; they’ll never countenance it. They’re here to fight not dig.’

  And that was just the problem: our men were too proud to be able to bring themselves to conduct a siege in an efficient manner; for them a siege was just lying around outside the gates waiting for the enemy to come out and challenge them to single combat or, as with Aliso, hurling themselves at the walls in a vain attempt to scale them. But I couldn’t afford to do that, not with Thusnelda within those walls.

  And so we were at stalemate; no one came in or out during the day but at night supplies were always getting through and the besieged showed no sign of weakening, not even by the middle of September when Germanicus’ army appeared from the west. With fewer than two thousand men I could not stand against him; it was with tears of impotent rage that I ordered our withdrawal and watched from a distant hill as a party left the settlement and joined the Roman ranks. My wife was now a prisoner of Germanicus and I did not know how to get her back. But, as I said, the gods have a way of bringing a proud man around and it was the loss of Thusnelda that brought Adgandestrius to me.

  ‘They have ravaged my lands, burnt my chief town of Mattium, killed thousands of my people and I want revenge,’ he told me soon after he arrived in the Harzland, with barely five hundred warriors, a few days after Germanicus had left – unfought.

  ‘And why do you come to me, you who have done all within your power to stop me uniting an army against Rome?’