by Ken Farmer
He listened to her words of that day - after the startling revelation of the true being of Pontiki -again and yet again in his relaxations under the sail, and it must be said, for more than one night when roaring thoughts pushed away the sleep. "...We are of the same age, in effect, and far past the time of the usual nuptiae for man and woman, but still... A single woman has no place in Latium - not of any usefulness, and a man needs to assure his future being with a son." At the time, he had just sat as if turned to stone by the Gorgon, his expression - he hoped - not showing the utter surprise with which he was receiving her words. "You are a man desirable beyond the norm, and who has not yet taken a wife only because your haste in your life has kept you ahead of the matrons and matchmakers of Capua..."
Aye, she had the truth of that. Any time the second son of the house of Clavius returned from a voyage, the invitations for this fête and that fiesta arrived at the door with almost the regularity of the dripping water-clock. Of course, the biddings were for the entire family, but there were always a plethora of mothers with yet unmatched daughters filling the room, all giving feigned surprise at his return. Despite the encouragement of his Mother, as with all such, in the need to find a mate, he had managed to avoid any... entanglements, with the stated need, always, to set sail on urgent demand of the family.
"...I have no claim to such laurels as yourself, but I am not entirely unattractive in appearance, as is said to me. I have some skill in scripting and counting, although to a women in our city such has little practical use." She held up her hand. "Nay, Julius. Please allow me say of my words." He nodded. "It is beyond the norms for a woman to give such offer to a man, but my quandary is not unlike yours."
"Mine?"
Now she smiled. "I have seen you accosted by every Matron in the city with an eligible daughter, and most being mere puellae a double handful of years your junior, and shallow of both thought and speech. I can well understand that a man who has the entirety of the world at his desire would have little interest in tying himself to a chattering infantis, speaking of her clothes and scents and the pending fête that she insists of your need to attend."
The woman had hit the mark fairly with that shaft. Now he said quietly, with a look back at the families still conversing in the atrium, "And your husband..." He furiously tried to remember the name, but it would not come. "...was a man who gave you such comfort in the union?"
She paused, giving a shrug, then said, "In truth, I was one of those chattering puellae that I spoke of, although I desire to believe that my converse had some measure of interest, and not mere female-gabble, but... Only a month after I was wed to Castus, the Legions marched to fight Mithridates, and he was taken by the red furies of the blood in the next year without my ever having vision of him again. Indeed, it shames me to admit that I cannot conjure up a vision of his face in my mind, which gives you a measure of the shortness of time between of our joining and its end."
"I have spent my widowhood in the peruse of history scrolls and the classics of the Hellens, but such can only maintain interest for a while before a woman wishes to become whole again." Now she paused and also looked back over the greenery into the atrium. "I am no longer that young femina with needs to spend hours at the dressing table or in the atrium to trade gossip with my friends."
Now she fell silent, mayhap wondering if she was in the process of making a jape of herself. He just sat, looking at the woman, seeing a mature and intelligent female, and not without some attractiveness to himself. In a while, she apparently reached a decision, looking at Julius and with full eye contact, as if she were a man in contest. "I am a woman who needs a man and you are such who must find a woman, and before your dotage, should you desire an heir. Should you find such need with me, I give promise that I will keep a proper home, and not gainsay you should your absences be extended, nor give complaint of misuse from your dislike of attending gabbling fêtes."
It was a measure of his confusion that he was still sitting in the tall chair. A few years before, in his enjoyment of discovery of the wide world he would have given short length to the startling idea of a woman giving proposal of nuptia joining. Now, his thoughts were split between bemusement and waxing interest. He had long known, in the rare times that he thought of such at all, that eventually he would have to take a wife, else his descent would end with himself.
Still, no man, and especially one whose knowledge of women was limited to such that could be purchased for an hour, could just reply to such a proposition as if giving answer to the merchant in some kiosk. Carefully choosing his words, he said "Aye. I will give that you would be a mate that a noble of Latium would have pride in relation - and showing. For myself, you have the truth of it - I must eventually find such and establish a proper household, but..." He desperately searched for words that would delay a decision, but not give flight to the woman - one who he even now admitted would be a sterling Domina in any household. "Allow me to give the matter some thought before my answer..."
Now the woman grinned. "Of course. Sextilia gave me that when one is stalking elusive game, one must take much care not to afright the quarry before it is in range."
"Sextilia...? My Mother?"
"Aye, brave Capitaneus. Think you that a mere female has courage to stalk such magnificent game without consult of a seasoned hunter?"
Of course. His Mother, in the manner of all throughout the world, would give any assistance to see a son wed - and especially to such a noble woman as Camelia.
Now she looked back into the atrium and the conversing families. Lowering her voice, she said, "I am no fell woman, experienced in the couplings of wedded mates, but yet also no chaste virgineus without knowledge of the needs of men. Should you need to... sound the firmness of the hull before purchase, I will deliver the vessel for your... inspection."
Astonished, he tried to cover his abashment with a question. "You are conversant with ship-gab, now?"
"Of course. I spent much of the time on the return voyage in talk with Patroclus, with him occasionally giving explanation of ship-work, including the reason for your man, Flavius, to continually search the hull in tapping with his little hammer." She paused, then, "But, should you find favor - or nay - with my ideas, have no fear that this conversation will ever be known. My Father will approach the Dominus of Clavius with the proposal, in the proper manner..."
His reverie of that unbelievable day broke with the call from Ngozi at the bow. "Smoke ahead! A handspan off the dexter bow!"
Julius stood, looking at the faint smudge on the horizon. For the blackness to be seen at this distance, the fire would be of some magnitude. As the Sage walked up, he commented, "A ship, mayhap, in unfortunate dire."
Patroclus shook his head. "I would wager that yon smudge marks our destination."
"The isle of Syrna."
"Aye. Just so."
Julius nodded, turning to call to the first mate. "Spill the wind. Bring us in hailing of the command ship."
As the Petrel hove to a stop, the following vessels closed the distance rapidly, the leader pointed to close the distance, it being obvious that a converse was wanting. The Capitaneus could see the leader of the expedition standing in wait, but his words were for the Master of the ship. "Come to a slow pace!" he shouted through the trumpet. "Our destination is on the horizon but we must needs make examination of yon smoke." At the affirmation, he nodded to Kaeso and the sail was hoisted to the pinnacle, allowing the Petrel to course across the waves with her usual pace. Quickly, the lumbering merchants were left behind and within the partial hour the smudge ahead was beginning to be resolved into land.
Once again, the eagle-eyes of Ngozi were first to give resolve of the sight. "That is the island, Capitaneus. I can see the white stone pile at the hill. The smoke is a smolder on the height of the tower."
"Turn us about!" he called to the first mate. Any closer and an observer might recognize the ship that had delivered the ransom. To the Sage he asked, "What think you?"
/> It was the Thracian who answered, holding the boom-line as the sail was tied off on the new tack. "They are giving dear hope for a ship to heave in to examine their signal."
Patroclus agreed. "Aye. Melglos has hit the mark. They are desperate to summon any passing ship in these empty waters."
The Petrel was now pointed back at the slowly advancing ships of their 'fleet.' Looking across the water, Julius said grimly, "Then their desires are about to be filled."
Coming up to the vessel of the commander, the Petrel spun around, spilling wind to halt in hailing distance. "Yon island is our destination! We will heave to and maintain distance in wait for night!" The affirmative reply was returned and the clumsy ships hove about into the wind. "Kaeso. Take yourself and Ngozi and Judoc below and gain some rest until the after midday watch. The night mayhap be full."
With the Sage in discussion - and the femina in watch - they looked at the sketch of the island, gained from some obscure scroll from the scriptorium in Capua. "...aye, if such indention exists, it would gain some calmness to put the soldiers ashore." As to the accuracy of the drawing, they had no idea, but it showed the small cove that they knew existed, but also a much larger one at the southern reaches. If so, then it was fortunate. Obviously, they would not wharf at a dock, needing to put the Legionaries on the land by using the small boat carried on each ship. His worry was, that with landsmen, most of whom had never set foot in a skiff, far less a sea-going vessel, the losses might be more in the debarking than any fighting afterward. The soldiers might be veterans of battle, but none would have success in swimming the distance in heavy leathers and weapons should a foot be misplaced in the embarkation to the small boats.
Julius looked up at the sail, only partially set as they plodded along in the necessity of waiting for darkness. "The wind is four handspans off the north. It maybe that yon clumsy tubs cannot enter a narrow channel pointing so close to the eye of the wind."
Patroclus pointed with his carbo drawing stick. "If so, then we will be in the wind-shadow of the island. The sea will be as calm as in any cove."
And so it was. By dark the wind had pushed the hove-to ships far to the southwest of the island, and Patroclus pointed a slant that would take them to the putative cove. Once in sight, under the cloudless sky and half moon, the Petrel once again laid on full sail to surge ahead. The crew was in a line stretching from the bow to the stern, that they might quietly pass along the word from Flavius, casting the lead to mark the depth as they closed.
And, as the map had given, there was indeed a cove, almost a stadium wide and a half longer in length. But, as the Sage had pointed out, tapping on the hard-map, it was only two stadia from the pirate encampment. Thus the need for silence by all.
The wind was such that the merchant vessels should be able to enter, but it was no matter. If needed, they could stand off at the entrance and disembark their passengers.
"Bottom at thirty pous, Capitaneus." This was from Densus, the last in the message-passing line. About the depth of five man-lengths.
"This is goodsome," said Patroclus. "The shoreline does not shelve gradually here, it would appear."
Julius just nodded. He was on the rudder pole himself, and gently moved it to allow the ship to approach even closer.
"Thirty pous less three."
They were now almost stopped, even the light wind of the night now blocked by the island.
"Twenty pous... Ten and seven..."
"Drop the sail. A pole over each side." With the long pushing canes on either beam, the Petrel was slowly pushed until the bottom fin touched, bringing the ship to a gentle stop. "Kaeso. Have two lines ready at the bow. I will examine the bottom. And send Pontiki... Pontika forward."
At the peak, both Judoc and Flavius were already standing with bows in hand, giving close inspection to the white-lit landscape only about five strides away. As the Korí ran up, he said, "We will make determination of the bottom. Remove your garb." With that, he dropped both belt and tunic to stand naked - neither weight of weapons nor sodden garments were helpful in a swim. The young girl showed her white teeth in the moonlight, grinning at the thought of yet another adventure.
Julius sat on the edge of the deck, turning and dropping to the extent of his arms, then falling the water with a quiet splash. Quickly, Pontika did the same. As he hoped, his body touched before his head was immersed. Moving his bare feet he could tell that the seafloor was mostly sand, but...
To the girl, he said, "Find the type of bottom where the keel fin is touching. And do not break your chine on the hull of the boat when you come up for breath." As the Korí disappeared under the water, he moved along the shoreline, attempting to determine if rocks of size might be projecting from the sand. In a few strides his feet had touched none - a finding that would simplify their next hour.
Back at the boat, Pontika held out a double handful of... sand. Another goodsome find. "No rocks?"
"Nay, Capitaneus." She thought for a moment, then gave small alter to his words. "Small stones, but none larger than the head of a man, and few of those."
A short whistle, and two ropes fell on their heads and in heartbeats both were heaved back to the deck. To the first mate, he ordered, "Pole us out and gain the wind. Point us to the ship of the commander."
About four stadia out, they turned to almost touch the side of the merchant ship. Gaius was standing in wait, but his words were for the Captain of the vessel. "The shoreline is sand and shelves steeply. Ground your ships beside ours, forward to the land. Your men can drop to the water over the bow and walk ashore." At a wave of understanding, the Petrel hove to and allowed following ships to pass, giving the same orders to each, then, setting full sail, strove to the lead again.
Within the hour, the five ships were gently grounded side by side, although not with total fineness of labor. One made the landing too close to its mate, the beams of both rubbing with a scraping of wood that sounded almost as the fall of dry timber in the night. "By the stinking orifice of Mars!" muttered Flavius. "Why do they not sound tubea and cornae to announce our arrival!"
Julius had been startled also, but it would make little difference if the pirates had heard and realized the meaning. The bulk of the soldiers were already standing on the land, and assembling into their own ranks. Against two Centuries of veteran Legionaries assembled for battle, no band of reavers on the mortal side of the river Styx could make the slightest impression.
Unloaded, Gaius ordered the ships to stand out, to wait their time away from the shore, leaving only the Petrel. The order gave even more countenance to the ability of Gaius Caesar - at least in the option of Julius. The leader was not filled with contempt for his foe, and allowing that there was at least a possibility for a desperate unit of reavers to storm a ship, mayhap taking it for escape. They would not do so with all stood out for a stadium. Telling his men to take their rest on the deck, but fully accoutered for any conflict, he again dropped over the bow and waded ashore. The men were also resting, one man reclined as his closest mate sat in watch. Further out were posted sentries that the night camp might not be surprised.
From the small knoll, he saw Gaius and his commanders standing in gaze across the land. The pirate encampment was not visible from here, being on the far shallow slope of the land, but the stone tower could easily be seen. The white stone glinted in the setting moon, but the coals of the fire at the top was a beacon that could have been seen almost to the horizon. Caesar was pointing here and there, giving his commanders an actual look at the layout of the island. No doubt, they had studied such on maps before landing, but now they could see the actual land that they would cross at first light.
Seeing Julius walk up the short rise, Gaius said quietly, "My compliments to your Greek and my apologies for any denigration of his character. He is indeed a master Archigubernus such as I have never heard. It was as if the gods were guiding his navigation from the gameboard of Olympus."
Julius just nodded in the faint light. "Aye
. He has the gift and no mistake. My dilemma is finding his replacement when his old bones finally give insistence in resting."
Gaius pointed across the island. "We will step off at first light. Will your men be in join?"