Glory of Rome: (Gaius Valerius Verrens 8)

by Douglas Jackson

  ‘It’s our word against that fool Gallus. As long as you back me no one will touch us.’ He set off in what he thought was the right direction, but Rufius didn’t move.

  ‘I’m going back,’ he called softly. ‘I won’t leave Ceris.’

  ‘Suit yourself, but remember, I got lost in the woods.’

  Rufius muttered a curse and was about to turn away when a shadow appeared from the scrub behind Crescens. As if in a dream he watched hands rise and fall before the Roman cavalryman collapsed among the tree litter. Before he could decide whether to help his comrade or run back to support Didius Gallus and Ceris something seemed to fall on him and his own world turned black.

  XV

  Shabolz knelt by the patch of disturbed ground and ran his hand over the leaves. ‘Two men in caligae stood here, lord.’ He rose to his feet and walked twenty paces. ‘One moved this way, but something happened when he reached this point. The other didn’t move from here on his feet. See the signs of something being dragged? That’s all I can be sure of. For the rest there is evidence of many men in the felt-soled boots the German tribes wear.’

  ‘So they’ve been taken?’

  Without a word Ceris, who had been standing with Tabitha and Lucius, set off in the direction of the road. Valerius grabbed her arm as she marched past and she turned on him with a look of fury, hissing like a trapped wildcat.

  ‘There’s nothing you can do on your own,’ Valerius snarled. ‘You’ll get yourself killed and that won’t help Rufius. Stay where you are and let me think.’

  Ceris dragged her arm free, but she went back to Tabitha.

  ‘You will find them, Valerius?’ his wife said.

  ‘I need to know a lot more than I do now before I decide anything. Shabolz?’ The Pannonian nodded. ‘Take ten men and follow the tracks as far as you’re able. Don’t risk a confrontation, but I need to know if they’re on this side of the river and still alive.’ Their eyes met and Valerius knew the Pannonian’s thoughts mirrored his own. The most convenient outcome would be if the patrol came back with two corpses. ‘Send a messenger when you get to the river, and if they haven’t crossed we’ll join you when we’ve rounded up the rest of the horses.’

  ‘And if they have?’

  ‘Then we’ll meet at Confluentes.’

  Shabolz ran off shouting the names of the men he wanted for the patrol. Valerius nodded to Felix and they walked a little way aside. ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘You’re planning to go after them?’ The decurion sounded incredulous.

  ‘I’ve never left a man behind if there was a way to avoid it.’

  Felix considered for a moment. ‘Not even his own tentmates would be too concerned to see Crescens’s head on a spike, but they like Rufius despite his light-fingered habits. They wouldn’t be happy to abandon him.’

  ‘That’s what I thought.’ Valerius stroked the scar on his cheek. ‘But it will depend on what we hear at Confluentes.’

  ‘All I’m asking is an assessment of the situation on the far side of the river and likely places the missing men of my escort may have been taken.’

  The commander of the fort at Confluentes stared out across the dark waters of the Rhenus at the thickly wooded slopes on the far bank. Sextus Regulus was an overworked and surprisingly elderly senior military tribune from the Twenty-first Rapax stationed at Bonna. His garrison consisted of a detachment from the legion and a cohort of Rhaetian auxiliaries. He had barely seven hundred men to secure almost forty miles of the west bank, and the constant strain showed in the lines on his weathered face. The raid in which Crescens and Florus had been abducted reflected badly on his leadership and he knew it. He’d allowed the ballistae below Baudobriga to distract him and left it to the navy to deal with. This visiting legate with his warrant from the Emperor could make trouble for him if he didn’t cooperate. On the other hand, losing two insignificant legionary cavalrymen was one thing, losing the Emperor’s personal envoy quite another.

  ‘I repeat, my advice to you is to forget them.’

  Valerius knew it was good advice. Any prudent commander would make an offering to Jupiter in their memory and continue his journey. But Crescens and Florus were his men and for all their faults part of the unit. Leaving them to their fate would send a message to their comrades that would never be forgotten. He was depending on these men to be prepared to sacrifice themselves to save his wife and child. Continuing without even attempting to save two of them would prove there was a point beyond which Valerius wouldn’t go to protect his troopers. Oh, he could argue, as one of his former commanders had predicted, that there came a time when a soldier’s life was only a coin that must be spent, but that wasn’t the point. Every moment he’d spent with Felix and his escort he’d been trying to create a special bond between them. A face swam into his head: smouldering dark eyes, a gleaming head as smooth and black as a river boulder, full lips and a blunt nose like a ship’s ram. Juva and the crew of the Waverider had volunteered to be part of a naval legion formed by Nero and they had scorned massacre and ignominy to make it a reality. What grew between them was more than a bond. It was a brotherhood. Valerius had seen them swept away at Bedriacum by the swords of the very legion Regulus served. The troopers of the escort would never become a brotherhood if he were to order them to abandon two of their comrades. And he had another, much more personal reason to risk all. He was Gaius Valerius Verrens, Hero of Rome. With that accolade came a responsibility that had guided his course from the moment Nero had placed the Corona Aurea upon his brow. It had been no idle boast when he told Felix he had never left a man behind. His old friend Serpentius would have told him he was a sentimental fool, but he would have been first in the boat at Valerius’s side.

  ‘Let’s assume that I don’t intend to take it.’

  ‘I cannot authorize you to cross the river.’

  ‘I don’t require your authorization, tribune,’ Valerius pointed out. ‘If I choose to do so you can’t stop me. I happen to outrank you, and that scroll you’re holding orders you to give me every assistance to carry out my mission for the Emperor. If I choose to believe that mission is best served by a visit to your neighbours that’s entirely my responsibility.’

  Regulus stared at the document and the Imperial eagle on the seal. ‘Will you sign a letter accepting full responsibility for the consequences?’

  ‘If that will ensure your cooperation, I’ll be happy to do so.’

  The tribune sighed and went to a cabinet where a series of yellowing and torn pieces of parchment hung from wooden dowels. ‘These were begun in Varus’s time,’ he said, finding the one he wanted. ‘Subsequent commanders have added to them over the years, so what you have is a reasonable approximation of the terrain and geography on the east bank and up to twenty miles inland. We’re fortunate that the then commander buried them in a sealed container before Civilis and his rebels chopped his head off and burned the place down.’ He laid the parchment on the table and used four metal discs, obviously manufactured for the purpose, to weigh down the corners. ‘The faded red dots are settlements, although some of them may no longer be there. The Germans have a habit of moving on once they’ve fouled the nest to an extent that nauseates even them. There are no roads as such, but the main trails between the villages are marked. The rest is mainly impenetrable forest.’

  Valerius’s heart sank when he saw the extent of the territory he would have to search if he were to find Crescens and Florus. It would take weeks, even months, and he didn’t have weeks.

  ‘One of my men identified the warriors as members of a tribe called the Chatti. Does that help?’

  ‘If he’s right, it would, but the gods only know how he’d do it. They all look the same to me with their filthy beards and barbaric tattoos.’ He ran a finger across the map to indicate a general area. ‘This is Chatti territory, but I’m afraid there’s no doubt where they’ve taken your soldiers.’

  ‘How can you know?’

  ‘Because it
’s not the first time it’s happened. They discovered an appetite for abduction after the civil war, when Civilis sent her prisoners as tribute.’

  ‘Her?’

  ‘Their witch.’

  Valerius felt as if someone had run a sword point up his spine. The second time in two days he’d heard that word. Was it an omen? He bent low over the map. ‘And where does this witch live?’

  Regulus bent beside him and pointed to a pink dot far inland. ‘Her temple complex is here in a settlement they call Guda.’ He looked up and their eyes met. ‘But from what we hear she’s well guarded, legate, and surrounded by several hundred loyal followers.’

  Valerius studied the map. No way of riding that far into enemy territory undetected, even if they could ever find the place. It would be suicide even to attempt it. He was just about to admit defeat when he noticed something. ‘And this is?’ He pointed to a dark line that curved into Chatti country like a fish hook and passed within what appeared to be a short distance of Guda.

  ‘The River Logana.’

  ‘How far upstream is it possible to travel by boat?’

  ‘I will only take volunteers.’ Valerius allowed his gaze to roam across the men in the barrack room, meeting each eye to eye. ‘It will be dangerous and the chances of success are low. Anyone who wants out should leave now.’

  ‘You make it sound like a visit to the brothel at the Grapes in Isca,’ Marius grinned. ‘But we’ve already decided. If you’re going we’re all going.’ His words brought a growl of assent. ‘Besides, we need to pay those bastards back for Gellius. He may have been a sack of lard, but he was a good cook and he was one of us.’

  Valerius saw Didius Gallus looking at the floor and knew the young soldier was thinking he’d be left behind to guard Lucius and Tabitha. ‘Didius? You’re with us?’

  The dark head snapped up. ‘Of course, sir.’

  ‘Good. I’ll need an aide to pass on messages, so you stick close to me. Felix? Someone has to stay behind and meet Brigo and his ships.’

  Felix nodded glumly. They’d had their argument earlier.

  ‘The good news is that Tribune Regulus has agreed to provide us with a galley, so we’ll be travelling in style.’ He returned the smiles. ‘The bad,’ he stepped forward and uncovered the ancient map Regulus had loaned him, ‘is that we’ll be travelling twenty miles into territory crawling with Chatti warriors. We’ll leave tonight and only travel by dark. I’m assured our sailor knows the river and we’ll be able to hide up by day. According to this, it’s about three miles from the river to Guda.’

  ‘What can we expect when we get there?’ Nilus, the signaller who’d found Pudens’s body.

  ‘We have a guide who knows the area,’ Valerius assured him, leaving out the fact that the man had never been inside the witch’s settlement. ‘The temple is at the heart of the village and the people think of her as a prophetess and a god. We can’t fight our way in, because they’ll outnumber us by at least ten to one. If we’re to save Rufius and Crescens we need to do it by stealth.’

  That sobered the mood. In the silence that followed he waited for the inevitable question. Hilario didn’t disappoint him. The big man rose and approached the table where Valerius had spread the map. Studying it intently, he ran a finger thoughtfully down the curve of the river from the settlement back to the Rhenus just above Confluentes. ‘Would I be correct in saying, lord, that getting there is the easy part?’

  Valerius nodded slowly. ‘I’m glad you mentioned that, Hilario. Once we’ve walked into Guda, freed the prisoners and strolled back to the boats through hundreds of, hopefully, sleeping Germans, we have the small problem of retreating twenty miles down the river. Only this time every warrior on the Rhenus frontier will be after us.’

  ‘And how do we do that, lord?’

  ‘I have no idea.’ Ceris had been standing by the door unnoticed. Now Valerius watched as she slipped away, unseen by the others. ‘In the meantime I suggest you make ready. Pick up rations for five days from the quartermaster. Don’t worry about going hungry, because if we’re not back by then you’ll be dead, or wishing you were. And soot.’

  Their faces turned to him in consternation.

  ‘Soot, lord?’

  ‘Yes, find some soot.’

  Tabitha had insisted Ceris be assigned a room in the guest accommodation they shared. Valerius entered without knocking and found the Corieltauvi girl dressed in German bracae and a plaid tunic. He recognized the clothing from one of the raiders they’d killed the day before, but it had been altered to fit Ceris’s slim frame. Tabitha was helping her strap an iron sword to her waist.

  ‘You knew about this?’

  ‘Of course,’ Tabitha said.

  ‘And you approved?’

  ‘You would have expected me to do likewise if it was you they’d taken over the river.’

  Valerius sighed. He could have depended on it. Sometimes he wondered who was in charge of this band of misfits. Without another word he went to the open hearth in the centre of the room and bent to rub his hand over the blackened bricks. He returned to Ceris and put his hand to her face. She flinched away with a grunt of disgust, but Valerius persisted, smearing the black soot until it covered both cheeks and her forehead.

  ‘That’s a start,’ he said to Tabitha. ‘But she’ll need more to cover her clothes.’

  Tabitha gave him a look of puzzlement, but then understanding dawned. ‘Yes.’

  There were many things Valerius should have been doing in the last few hours before night fell, but one outweighed all the others. He sought out Didius and told him to take Lucius riding on Khamsin, with strict instructions not to return before dusk.

  When he returned to his quarters, Tabitha was waiting. She saw the look on his face and without a word walked into their small bedroom and unclipped two brooches and allowed her dress to fall to the floor.

  An hour later they lay tangled amid the sheets, their sweat-sheened limbs haphazardly splayed across each other. Valerius ran his fingers over her right breast, intrigued by the small but noticeable changes that confirmed her condition. Tabitha lay back with her eyes closed, a look of contentment on her face and a pleasing flush to her cheeks. ‘If you keep doing that you may have to postpone your madness for another day,’ she said drowsily.

  ‘If I don’t—’

  Her fingers went to his lips to silence him.

  ‘You will come back, Gaius Valerius Verrens. This Chatti sorceress is not the only woman on the Rhenus with the sight.’

  ‘Go to Titus. He will keep you safe and make sure the right things are done for Lucius and our daughter.’

  ‘Daughter?’

  ‘Your beauty is eternal, Tabitha of Emesa. She will be the gods’ guarantee of it.’

  She took his left hand in hers and laid it flat on her stomach. ‘You will return,’ she repeated. ‘Ceris has foretold it.’

  ‘Ceris?’

  ‘That’s why I helped her. It will take a witch to find a witch.’

  XVI

  ‘I don’t know if your night stalkers will scare the enemy, but they certainly put the fear of death in me, sir.’

  Valerius stood on the quayside with Antonius, the young officer of the Rhenus fleet who’d stopped the convoy above Baudobriga. In the light of a dozen flickering torches he could see the slim and, to Valerius, worryingly fragile oak frame of the galley bobbing gently in the shelter of the quay wall, held steady by the oarsmen who sat seven to each side on their benches.

  Behind the two officers the men of the escort waited to board by the narrow gangway connecting the quay to the ship. They were indeed a sight to strike terror into any who crossed their path, but, more important, able to operate more or less unseen in the dark. Each trooper had covered himself in soot – flesh, clothes, chain armour, and weapons – so that in the darkness he was an indistinct shadow only identifiable by a pair of white staring eyes. No helmet, to reduce the weight the oarsmen would have to propel, and no shields, because they’
d only be a liability in the thick woods they expected to encounter. Valerius was as black as any of his men, with the soot stink thick in his nostrils.

  He had to keep reminding himself these were cavalrymen, more at home on horseback than on their own feet. Yet a number of them had been legionaries less than two months ago; truculent, barely governable legionaries in some cases, but legionaries still. Was he expecting too much of them? Regulus clearly believed Valerius was leading his soldiers to certain death, and the cheerful young galley captain treated him as if he were an aged, but respected, relative who wasn’t quite right in the head.

  Yet Valerius thought he now had the measure of the men he led. Every member of the escort was committed to the rescue of their two comrades, whatever the cost. Rivalry between the various factions still divided them more than he cared for, but it was competitive rather than murderous. They’d fought well in the woods, not a man taking a step back, and Valerius knew it had nothing to do with his leadership. He’d pointed them at the enemy and they’d done what was needed.

  ‘Tell the men to get ready,’ Valerius ordered Didius, almost unidentifiable at his side. ‘But I’ll talk to them first.’

  Valerius looked up towards the looming shadow of the fort. They had said their farewells while he was donning his armour, but he sensed Tabitha was up there watching.

  He approached the line of blackened figures. Only two were identifiable. Hilario’s enormous frame would have stood out in any company, and Ceris seemed a childlike figure tagged on to the end of the front rank.

  ‘You will board by twos.’ The occasion seemed to call for a discreet whisper, but the enemy was far away and there was no likelihood of hearing anything less than a normal speaking voice above the rush of the great river. ‘You know your positions, so take them quickly. Get into the centre of the ship and stay there. If you need to piss do it now; there won’t be any chance once we cast off.’ Two or three of the anonymous figures slunk guiltily into the outer darkness. ‘If anything happens, do not panic. You can trust our water rat friends to get us out of trouble. If they can’t there’s no point in worrying either’ – he slapped his chain armour – ‘because we’re all eel bait in any case. But that won’t happen. Antonius and his men will get us across and with Fortuna’s favour will carry us up the Logana to the witch’s lair.’ He sensed a shiver of unease run through the men at the mention of their quarry. ‘Just remember that once we’re across, every man, woman and child is your enemy. Discovery means death. Do not hesitate. Kill first and kill quickly. Now get on board.’