The Bane of Gods: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 5)

by Alaric Longward

  “Lord, I—” Segestes began, but Varus lifted a finger.

  “Have failed in finding this minor rebel, have you not? Yes, you have,” Varus said as if to a child.

  “He has no power,” Segestes snarled, gathering what dignity he had left. “He is a wounded, shamed wolf prowling in the woods. If you would, can I capture Sigimer, my brother and make him speak—”

  “Sigimer you shall not touch,” Varus said irascibly. “I have told you this many a time. We will not need a third of the nation in arms.” He turned to me. “You have to find Armin without riling up the locals, Raven. I know you can. You and I, we share respect for, well … you know what.”

  “Know what?” Segestes asked.

  “None of your business,” Varus said scathingly, and so easily I had broken between the two men.

  “I know well what you are talking about,” I said with a bow. “And you know I can be careful, and I will not upset your peace.” I patted my horse. “I and my men, we shall keep you informed.”

  He nodded thankfully. “They say there is a bounty for him?”

  I smiled thinly. “Yes. A large one. Even a part can make a man rich. The gratitude of Augustus is there, waiting for the taker. Of course, I shall bring him to you when I find him.”

  He grinned, a corrupt bastard ready to take even the smallest morsel of wealth and gratitude. “They said you died?” Varus asked. “Some claimed it was so.”

  “My men rescued me from Maroboodus,” I answered. “Alas, I was taken a prisoner in the Postumus debacle. To imagine Armin planned to give him to Maroboodus. Germanicus truly saved Roman honor that day. I survived.”

  He looked troubled, and I worried he would sense I was lying, but all he thought about in the end was the profit. He smiled. “Well, if you will succeed, I shall as well. You have my blessing to work the land.”

  “Put them under my command,” Segestes said softly, stroking his beard. “Let them work with my men. That way, they can share information, which we can use to track the man down much more efficiently.”

  Varus shrugged. “Not a bad suggestion. Not a bad one at all.”

  I gave Segestes a neutral look. “Well, I guess that might work. We shall find Armin together, then. And all the vast wealth he brought with him from Rome. Talents of silver and gold, they say.”

  Varus looked shocked. “Truly?”

  “Oh, truly,” I answered. “He did. Segestes and I shall find him. I am sure Segestes will keep us honest.”

  He changed his mind abruptly. “In that case, it might be best you alone find him,” Varus said and turned his horse. “I do trust you in such matters from personal experience. If you do find …. Armin,” Varus laughed, “I am grateful.”

  I bowed my head, and Segestes, defeated, was cursing. “I will,” Segestes said tiredly, “also step up my efforts to find him. And of course, I shall return what was stolen from Rome fully, if I am the one to find him.”

  “I bet I shall find him first,” I said with a smirk. “I am sure of it.”

  Segestes looked at me with suspicion. “Why, I accept the challenge,” he answered. “Because to bait a wolf, one must use a proper meat.”

  I looked at him with mild worry.

  Was he talking about Thusnelda?

  Varus nodded. “So be it. You two have until September! That’s when we go back,” Varus laughed. “Hraban, you will of course sleep in the camp with my officia. They will clear a room for you and your men.”

  I grinned at Segestes, and knew he would keep a close look on my arse from then on.

  CHAPTER 33

  To claim I ruined the summer for poor Segestes would be a terrible understatement. To add I also ruined it for Sigimer was also true. I rode the Southern Cherusci land with Tudrus, Ulrich, and Agetan, and Adalwulf with Wandal kept an eye on Segestes and his men. We supposedly searched high and low for Armin, and the men of Segestes were always there, following us around, nervous to the bone, and Sigimer had plenty of trouble from his brother. Segestes’s men rode to his hall at most surprising moments, often for no reason at all. Segestes had a bodyguard of twenty men, all Franks from the northeast, and these men he used to thwart my efforts. They spoke what we spoke, but with heavy accents, and were all wily hunters, making it hard for Adalwulf and Wandal to keep track of them. A man that was called The Hill, because he had no neck and deep, brown skin, led them.

  Sigimer kept his thirty men close and endured.

  The fear of discovery of Armin and his plans, which we did our best to thwart by keeping Segestes busy, kept us awake many a night.

  Segestes had plenty of men to ruin our plans. He ruled four hundred communities and commanded more than fifty chiefs who were richer than most of their fellows in Germania.

  Yet, we soon noticed there were plenty of men in the lands of Segestes who never looked him in the eye. His power was fragile, and entirely dependent on Rome.

  I had not seen Thusnelda in the camps.

  Soon, the day for the Romans to leave was nigh.

  That early autumn day we were riding in a remote village, and I saw Adalwulf and Wandal riding for us. I turned my head, and saw six men of Segestes, all long-haired Franks riding for the great hall of the village, a home of a local chief. The Hill led them, his large, neckless body heaving past his men, and then he pushed inside the hall. We waited for our friends, and Tudrus was scowling at some of the Franks who stayed with the horses.

  “Trouble?” I asked him casually.

  He shrugged. “Here? No. I guess your curse is spreading. Euanthe is growing annoyed with me. We had a wonderful time together when you were dealing with Gaius and all the other filthy business. And now she barely sees me, and pays even less duty to our daughter. When she does, she is gross. Very gross. That Sigimer sends her gifts, and I don’t like it.”

  “How does she like the Germani in Germania, then?” I asked, eyeing Adalwulf, who swayed in his saddle, staring at the dismounting Franks. “She considering marriage to a Cherusci chief?”

  He spat. “No! Of course not!” He calmed himself as he saw Adalwulf chuckling. “She has no complaints about the land,” he answered. “She loves everything about it. Doesn’t even mind the cold.” He smiled. “Keeps bullying me to reclaim the Quadi. She fawns over our daughter, and curses me half the time. It is uncanny how a woman can smile at a child, and then rage at you, in a span of a heartbeat.”

  “Quadi, eh? When Hades freezes, you will get them from my father’s grasp,” I muttered and nodded at the Franks. “It is almost time. Their eyes are on us. After we are done, who knows what you will do?”

  He grunted. “I have been thinking.”

  I gave him a quick look. “Your own warband?”

  He looked embarrassed. “Father ruled a third of the Quadi. I have been following you for years now. Granted, there are riches, friendship, and a wife as a result, but I have been thinking about it.”

  I rubbed my neck. “With Armin?”

  “With the king of the land,” he agreed. “With him, perhaps. As you are going to do. This is what we agreed on. Leaving Rome. Finding our place. Yes, why not? But I shall be there when you keep your oath to kill Livia.”

  I smiled at him. “I suppose that is a good plan. But first, we have twenty thousand men to slaughter, and a fat king to fool.” I gave them a quick look. “Perhaps it would be best, if you and Wandal, and your brother left now. Go with Armin, and let me deal with this deceit.”

  He shrugged. “We stayed with your wife. We will not desert you now. After the battle, we can take our own ways.” I nodded, worried, and grasped Adalwulf’s forearm as he approached. “How are things?”

  “Summer is over,” Adalwulf answered and nodded at the Franks. “They keep hounding you. There are some fleeting rumors of warriors concentrating in the North, but too few for anyone to take proper note of, and Segestes is only thinking about Sigimer, and of you. I think they have men shadowing us as well.” We gave the woods a casual look. Indeed, there were shad
ows deeper than most. Adalwulf went on. “So, how are things going?”

  “Bored. Saddle-sore. In less than a week, it will all be over,” I said, both afraid and relieved. “The Romans will move the day after tomorrow. XVII and XVIII are already breaking up the camp at the river. I’ve sat with Varus every evening I possibly can spare, complimenting him.” I spat. Heaping adoration on the man was a stomach churning experience at best. “He has been asking about Armin, of course. I have been inventing information; saying basically nothing, but dropping hints Armin might be brewing devilry with the Chatti to the south. He is still hoping for the treasure of Armin, and Segestes is as well.”

  We watched The Hill exit the hall, followed by a local, strapping chief who seemed to be on the verge of violence.

  Wandal grunted. “And is this all he does? Sends men to see you don’t find Armin? Is Segestes smearing you behind your back?”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “And not only behind my back. He keeps telling Varus not to trust me even while I sit right there, but Varus trusts me and has grown lazy as well. While he and all Romans use scouts and speculatores to keep an eye on even the most peaceful of lands, Varus has been happy to use me instead of Segestes. They are blind.”

  “You think he will fall for it?” Tudrus asked nervously. “Varus.”

  Adalwulf snorted. “He will. Armin, the Bructeri, and the Marsi are preparing. Sigimer’s men will be summoned by chosen chiefs.” He shifted in his saddle. “There is something. Segestes, they said, spoke to Varus this morning. It is worrying.”

  “He is fat, old, and evil, but Varus isn’t particularly happy with him,” I answered, as we rode to the village. Wandal rode to a house, and began asking questions, and the Franks looked on with worry. “What was it about?”

  “He might surprise you,” Adalwulf answered. “Our families are safe, but this Thusnelda isn’t.”

  We turned to look at him.

  He waved a hand towards the north. “He is spreading word that Thusnelda will be married to a Chauci chief the night before the Roman legions start marching west. It is a great celebration, they say, to mark the Roman departure.” He rubbed his face tiredly. “Apparently, the husbandman will leave for the North with her.”

  “Trap, eh?” Wandal said. “Hoping to lure Armin in.”

  I nodded. “This marriage is the final effort.”

  Adalwulf shrugged. “I saw this husband, actually. He is real. I guess Segestes is happy to marry her off, finally, trap or no. Does Armin know?”

  “He will know,” Tudrus said. “Such news will spread like fire on dry brush. He might—”

  “We will deal with it,” I said harshly. “We shall. You know where they will marry?”

  He nodded. “In a hall, near the camps. I followed some men, who took food there. A hill and field from the XIX Castra,” Adalwulf said simply. “This might ruin everything. Armin—”

  “Armin has no time to deal with this,” I said.

  Tudrus frowned. “We don’t really know if he is near. He might try to stop it, anyway.”

  I cursed in my head. “I shall see Sigimer,” I told them. “And he will tell Armin we will handle it. Sigimer will give us men. We’ll act tomorrow night. And things will move fast from there.” I watched the Franks. “We’ll go see what this business with Thusnelda is, and the next morning, I’ll tell Varus Armin is in the North. They will have killed the Roman garrison, and perhaps he will already know. Gods willing, we shall gain great victory.”

  Tudrus gave me a long look. “Something will go wrong, I am certain.”

  I shook my head. “Varus must go there. His army will, instead of marching to the Luppia, trudge for the River Amisia. He will use the one road, and we shall ride amongst them until we reach the woods. A day, maybe two. Then it is over. It is war, things will go wrong, but not due to our efforts.”

  Far in the north thunder rumbled.

  “There will be a storm,” Adalwulf said. “Donor is with us.”

  “He is, and nothing can, or will go wrong,” I told him.

  I was, of course, wrong.

  CHAPTER 34 (Near Castrum Varus, September 1st, 9 A.D.)

  The night before the Romans were going to leave, we were staring at a hall filled with people. The doorway opened when the occasional reveler left the hall. There were ten men of Sigimer’s with us, armed and armored to their teeth. The Gold Wolf was there, his twelve men ready and tense, the grinning Thracians brewing for a fight.

  Wandal shifted in his saddle. “How many inside?”

  “Thirty?” Ulrich said. “I do not see through the walls, dolt.”

  Tudrus rode next to me, and Agetan was with him. “It’s been four hours, Hraban. We must do something soon. Goddess Sunna will drag her chariot to the sky and then it will be too late.”

  I nodded and squinted at the horizon. Indeed, there the hint of a pale light, just enough to tint the black and blue sky with a very faint blue glow.

  “Did anyone see Segestes ride in?” I asked yet again.

  Nobody answered. Agetan and Adalwulf had been watching the hall most of the day, and a stream of men, amongst them a fat Cherusci chief and a big noble had come to the hall, but both men had been hooded and swathed in cloaks. We couldn’t be sure if Segestes was inside, and where Thusnelda was, was also a mystery. Dozens of horses were corralled outside, and the stable was apparently full of beasts, but we couldn’t be sure what was taking place inside.

  “Surely,” The Gold Wolf began, “either one of the big bastards would have ambled outside to piss by now? My uncle is a glutton and a drunk. He cannot hold it for more than a few songs. Most go out as soon as they serve boar. A dozen men have done just that already. Why not either one of them? Passed out in their vomit?”

  I nodded. I saw men exit the building and walk to the side to relieve themselves. Someone was singing inside, and some slaves were walking out, carrying vats of water.

  I jumped down from my horse.

  The Gold Wolf followed suit, and Tudrus did as well.

  I turned to Adalwulf. “Can you rescue us, if things require a steady hand? I need to find out what is going on.”

  He nodded. “I’ll lead them in. Go and see what’s out there. Something is not right.”

  We had planned to surprise Segestes when he came out to relieve himself. We had hoped to see Thusnelda. We had failed.

  We sneaked forward in the darkness, walking over the field, pausing by some lonely trees. We watched men move back and forth through the door, pausing every now and then, calling out merrily to each other. As we got close, we went forward on all fours, and then, out of the door, the supposed groom stepped out. Large, tall and wide, he walked with two men, both supporting him as they walked to the corner of the hall. I licked my dry lips. I nodded at Tudrus, and then The Gold Wolf, and we got up, walking for the trio. We passed the door casually, and The Gold Wolf stopped there, looking inside from a crack of a doorway.

  I went forward with Tudrus, and we pulled our swords.

  And that’s when things went to shit.

  The big man whirled, pulled an ax from under his cloak, and his friends had a seax and a cudgel. They barreled forward with deceptive speed, and I slipped on the muddy grass. “Segestes,” howled the huge warrior, “sends his regards!”

  The ax came down, a cudgel banged into my helmet, and a seax hovered near.

  I was pushed aside. The ax passed my face.

  Tudrus stood over me, sword flashing for the man with the cudgel. He pierced the chest of the man, then tried to dodge under the ax that was coming again, but the large weapon snapped through his sword, and into his chest.

  He fell over me, screaming.

  The Gold Wolf was hissing in rage, a clash of weapons echoed from the doorway. “Hraban! Get up, you dog!” he yelled.

  In shock, I tried to push Tudrus’s feet aside. I saw The Gold Wolf pushing the door closed, crushing an arm. Men were pummeling the door.

  A foot kicked me. The ax wen
t up.

  I pushed up from under Tudrus, and ripped Nightbright into the large man’s belly. I sawed the blade back and forward and heard him howling terribly, as he fell. I felt the seax rattle across my shoulders, and whipped the blade from the wound and slashed at the man’s knee. I hit his thigh instead, and blood spurted high as the man gasped and fell on his damned back.

  I got up, and turned to see The Gold Wolf standing on top of two dead men, his wicked Thracian spear with arm length blade flashing. He roared and stabbed forward at the doorway, and a hand fell into the mud.

  I cursed, grasped Tudrus, saw a ghastly wound on his chest, and lifted him, just barely managing it.

  Horses whinnied in the night.

  Riders came from the darkness. Many were carrying torches, and one was a familiar Frank, The Hill. He squinted, and hollered, and ten men surged for me.

  I cursed, and rushed for The Gold Wolf. “Run, you damned fool.”

  “Lead the way, bastard,” he roared, and joined us, as we darted for the darkness.

  Men poured from the hall.

  The riders darted after us.

  A javelin struck my chain, and fell away. A rock flew past The Gold Wolf’s head, and men came after us with frenzied hoots. We ran like cows from the butchers, and the butchers were very close. The Gold Wolf whirled and hacked down, a horse screamed, something fell heavily, and we kept running.

  Help was near.

  From the darkness, Wandal and Agetan rode, and behind them came Ulrich, Adalwulf and the Thracians, and the men of Sigimer.

  They rode past us, and I stopped, let Tudrus down, and stood over my poor friend with my sword out. The Gold Wolf roared, and rushed after the horses, and soon, in the darkness, lit by the torches of the enemy, many of which fell to the mud soon after, a savage fight took place. Men screamed, surprised. The Thracians roared at the men coming from the hall, mercilessly hacking down, and one man was practically split in two. Men of Sigimer fought the Franks, who howled as javelins pierced men.