Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 11] Roman Treachery (12 page)

“I envy you at times Metellus but then I think that I am glad that there is no one to worry over me. Ours is a perilous profession and few reach their pension.”

Julius, the decurion of the tenth Turma shook his head. “Your problem sir, is that there are over five hundred people who worry over you.”

“Kind of you to say so Julius but some commanders would feel that that showed a weakness of leadership.”

“No Livius; it shows you care for the men and they respect that.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the bowl of stew which was carried in by two of the fortress cooks. “Venison stew sir.  Courtesy of the decurion’s brother, Decius!”

“Excellent! It is an advantage having the farm so close.  One gets tired of the constant porridge and bread. And I am starving.”

The other officers had all ladled the stew on to their plates.  Julius could not resist a mouthful.  Livius stood and help up his beaker.  “To Marcus’ Horse!”

The officers all stood and roared “Marcus’ Horse!”

“And now the stew…”

Before Metellus could even sit Julius had fallen over and was clutching his throat.  A white, green froth erupted from his lips. “Poison! Don’t touch the stew! Send for the capsarius. Metellus get the charcoal!”

Metellus was already going to the cold brazier to get a piece of charcoal. Livius sniffed the water jug and tested a drop on his finger. “Tastes fine.” Metellus used the pommel of his dagger to grind up the charcoal and mix it with the water.  Julius’ eyes were already rolling back in his head as Livius forced the black liquid into his throat. “Hold his nose!” While Metellus held the decurion’s nose Livius poured the whole of the concoction into Julius’ mouth. Once it was in he held his mouth closed.

The capsarius raced in. He took one look at Livius and said, “Charcoal?” Livius nodded.  “Well done sir.  Best remedy for poison. I assume it was poison?”

“Yes looks like the stew.”

Just then Julius started to retch and vomit.  The green and black liquid smelled foul but the capsarius looked pleased. “Good lad, get it up it’ll do you good.” The capsarius took a water skin from his bag of equipment.  Let’s try some pure water.” He cradled Julius’ head in his arms much as a mother would do with a baby. “Keep drinking son.  The more you drink the better chance you have of living.”

“Metellus.  Take some men and get down to the kitchen see if you can find out how the food was poisoned. I’d better see the Governor.”

The Governor, his wife, his aide and his wife’s companions were just sitting down to eat when Flavia Nepos noticed that she did not have her fruit knife.  It was an ornately made piece of cutlery but particularly special to Flavia because the Emperor Trajan’s mother had given it to her and she always said that the fruit always tasted better cut by the Empress’ knife. Lucia began eating and avoided eye contact; Vibia sighed, “I will get it madam.”

She walked down the long corridor to the rooms the Governor used. She was already tired of working for the annoyingly fussy woman who bored her to death with every utterance.  If only Appius had more money then she would marry him and enjoy a much more luxurious life, the life she had been born to. She was, therefore, somewhat distracted when she opened the door and was suddenly grabbed by the four huge and foul smelling Brigante. Her eyes opened wide as she recognised one of the troopers from the ala. “You!” A fierce warrior clamped his hand across her mouth, his other gripping her tightly across the chest, pinning her arms at her side.

The spy cursed,” Shit! This is not the wife of the Governor.  This is one of her servants!”

Just then Livius and the other officers clattered down the corridor outside. “She will have to do! Just get us out of here and then see if the poison has worked. Adair, smack her one.” The warrior holding her dropped her and, before she could shout, hit her hard on the chin with his enormous fist.  She passed out and Adair slung her over his shoulder. The spy led the way as they made their way to the northern gate. Already word had got out about the attempt on the prefect’s life and the guards at the gate were alert and watching the buildings keenly.

Briac halted them in the shadow of the barrack building. “We need a diversion. “ Taking out his sword he stabbed the spy in the leg, just below the knee and avoiding an artery.  “Crawl out there and shout for help.” He turned to his other men. “Put the girl down and when they come to help him kill them.” He was already working out how far they could get.  Their horses were tied up in the vicus with three more of their men.

The spy rolled out from the barrack building and, with blood smeared on his hands from his leg wound shouted, “Help! There are Brigante.”

The four sentries were so shocked and surprised that they forgot their training and all four of them raced over to help their wounded comrade.  As the spy thrust his pugeo into the throat of the first man, the others were butchered where they stood. “Grab the girl.” Ignoring the spy who was busy replacing his bloody dagger with a clean one from one of the sentries, Briac led his men out of the fort and into the vicus. The shouts and the commotion had drawn other guards who raced to find the wounded trooper and the dead sentries.  The spy lay in a pool of blood, it was not his but it served its purpose.  “Brigante! They have one of the Domina’s companions.” He then pretended to pass out.

As he lay there he heard the optio say, “Brave bugger.  Capsarius!”

By the time the gate was, again manned, Briac and his men had fled with their victim.  They had the hostage they needed. Their next task was no less daunting; to get their victim north of the frontier which meant passing through the Roman forts and patrols.  Briac was determined to show the Votadini and Selgovae that the Brigante were still a powerful tribe.

Governor Aulus Nepos was still trying to calm his hysterical wife and Lucia by the time Livius reached him. “Where have you been prefect?  My wife was nearly kidnapped and they have taken Vibia. What were you and your men doing?” Livius could see that Appius was also unhappy and scowled at him. He felt the unfairness of it.  He and the ala were not the garrison of the fortress.  The legionaries of the Sixth Legion were responsible for that while his ala were merely guests.  He did not think that arguing that would do him any good.

“I am afraid it is more serious than that Governor.”

“More serious than trying to kidnap the wife of an Imperial Governor?”

“Someone managed to poison the stew my officers and I were going to eat.  So you see in the scheme of things kidnap is slightly less serious than murdering all of us.”

Flavia stopped crying.  “You mean we could have been poisoned too?”

“If they could get at our food then yours would have been doctored just as easily. We have questioned the cooks.  The food they used was not poisoned but the men who brought it were not from the farm they said. Brigante rebels managed to breach our security.” He said ‘
our
’, but he meant the Sixth’s.  It was not in Livius’ nature to blame a fellow officer. “However the most serious element is that no Brigante went near to the food.  Someone from inside the fort is a traitor.”

After Livius had finished speaking there was a stunned silence. “Were the two events linked do you think prefect?”

Livius noticed the slightly more placatory note. “It would make sense.  If there were rebels inside the fortress then they would have the opportunity to kidnap one of your party.  The question is why? It is not their usual tactic.  If you kidnap someone then you want something in return. And I am at a loss to see what.”

Appius stood and went to the desk in the corner.  “I think I can help there.  We received a letter from the fort on the wall, your fort, prefect. It came from the legate.  Apparently your men have captured the son of a war chief and he is being held hostage for their future good behaviour.  My guess would be that they will want an exchange.”

Livius sighed more with exasperation than anything else.  Had he been informed of the letter then he would have been able to do something about it. The Governor looked shocked. “I will have a word with the Camp Prefect about the security.  From now on we will allow no Brigante near the fort. But what about food? Are the cooks to be trusted?”

“That is simple enough, Governor, just have the cooks taste the food in your presence and then you will know.”

Appius stood up, suddenly angry, “What about Vibia?  How does this help here? What do you intend to do about her?”

“You forget yourself Appius!”

“I will send Titus and his turma with the news.  Rufius and Marcus are both excellent officers they will find her.”

“How!” The contempt in Appius’ voice made the prefect want to punch him.

“Well apart from the fact that they are both Explorates, Marcus is a Brigante and they both know the area very well, the fact that I say they can do the job should be enough for you.” Livius’ voice also had an edge to it.

Governor Nepos waved his arms in attempt to calm things down.  “I think that is an excellent suggestion prefect and I think the sooner you and your men can catch these Brigante killers then the sooner you can get back to the wall and rid us of Rome’s enemies.”

“I am going too!”

“No I forbid it Appius.  We need you here.”

Both Flavia and Lucia looked equally shocked but Appius was adamant.  “My task was to find the copper mines.  With the turma in the north then I have naught to do.  When we have recovered Vibia then I can go with the turma to the west.  Is that not true prefect?”

Suddenly Livius was an ally. How he hated politics, politicians and political appointees.  “Yes it is possible. But believe me, if my men cannot rescue her then no-one can.”

“Nevertheless I will be going north and that is an end to the argument!”

Titus and his turma rode hard for the north.  They needed not Appius constant orders and demands for speed for they were going to join the rest of the ala and that was all they wanted. Titus had taken spare horses and they made the journey in one day, although the horses were ready to drop by the time they arrived. Appius had complained when Titus had insisted upon telling the commanders at the forts on the roads to watch out for Brigante heading north. The patrician fop who complained did not know, as Titus did, that the forts were the best defence they had against barbarian enemies.  They could shut the stable door and make it even harder for the Brigante to get to the wall unseen. When they reached the fort, although they did not know it, Briac was still south of the Dunum.  The ala had an edge.

Rufius had taken charge of all six turmae when Marcus had arrived.  He was pleased that they had a new scout; even though both he and Marcus were excellent trackers they missed having one of Gaelwyn’s ability.  It looked like Felix fitted the bill perfectly.  “Marcus, take your turma and Felix out.  Just let him get the feel of the land.  This is new country and we both know how different it is to the land near to the Dunum.”

So, even while Titus and Appius were racing towards the frontier Marcus and his turma were north of the wall. “I will leave the horse in the stable sir for I need to feel the land.”

Marcus had never seen the two of them working before and they were a remarkable pair.  Wolf ranged from side to side and would suddenly disappear.  Felix never seemed to worry or mind that his dog was no longer close by.  For his part Felix constantly touched, smelled and tasted everything he could see. It was he who made the first discovery.  He held up his hand and gave a whistle.  Wolf appeared, apparently from nowhere and Felix pointed to the ground. “Seven days ago, perhaps longer, seven warriors crossed here heading south.  They went in single file.  They returned north two days ago.”

Sextus was as impressed as Marcus. “What do you make of it sir?”

“Interesting.  It meant they went further south than the fort, the question is why and where were they going.” He suddenly slapped his head. “What a fool I am Sextus.  Felix is a Brigante we need to let him see and smell Votadini and Selgovae.  There are Votadini prisoners at the fort. It could be these warriors were sent to scout out the fort.” He looked up at the sun. “We might as well head back to the fort and report to the decurion.”

The fort was a hive of activity when Marcus and his men rode in.  He saw Titus and recognised the unpleasantly arrogant Governor’s aide. As soon as he dismounted

The legate waved him over. “Sextus, see to the men and Felix.  It looks like something big has happened.”

Julius Longinus gave Marcus a rare smile as he came in. The old man was fond of all the original decurion but Marcus held a special place in the old man’s thoughts. The legate waved them to their seats. “Titus has just briefed me.” Marcus could see that the aide was red faced and obviously unhappy that Titus was afforded more respect and credibility than he was. “It seems the Brigante have kidnapped the companion of the Governor’s wife.  We think, or at least Livius does, that they were going for Domina Nepos.”

Rufius interjected, almost absent mindedly, “Well then that will be what happened.” He held up a hand.  “Sorry for the interruption legate.”

“You are right and I agree with you Rufius. I also agree that this is likely to be in retaliation for our hostages and it may well result in an exchange.  Now, thanks to Titus here, the frontier should be shut up tightly and they may not even reach here but let us work on the assumption that they will reach here and they will make a demand.”

“Then you will exchange her!”

All of the officers stared at Appius in amazement.  Julius Demetrius just said quietly, “I understand why you are upset but you have neither status nor rank here.  I am allowing you to stay here out of courtesy but I would appreciate it if you would keep your mouth shut.” Titus hid a smile.  This made up for the diatribe he had suffered on the long road north.  “Now to get back to the matter in hand; we have time to find their camp and to try to ambush them as they travel north.”

“Sir?”

“Yes Marcus?”

“We found tracks which led south and then returned north.  They seem to tally with the time the hostages were captured and the lady kidnapped.  It means that we have a place to start to look.”