Marius' Mules V: Hades' Gate (67 page)

Lucilia and Balbina and the servants could move to Massilia and live in the villas above the great port city and he and Balbus would be close to home when a season ended. It was almost too good to be true.

"I'll have an answer for you by morning. You
are
staying, yes?"

Antonius smiled and indicated the racks of amphorae. "I
was
hoping you would offer me the night's accommodation. Thank you. And I look forward to your answer."

An eerie howl echoed hollowly from somewhere outside, or perhaps even deep in the earth.

"I didn't know Puteoli had wild wolves?" Antonius quizzed, his brow furrowed.

Fronto tapped a foot on the flagged floor of the storeroom and smiled. "Just another guest acquainting himself with his new accommodation. I fear the caves of Puteoli are somewhat different from his homeland."

* * * * *

The druid rubbed his pained knee and peered across the flames to the man on the heavy wooden bench opposite. Not for the first time he wondered whether they were doing the right thing.

His people had been the heart and soul of the Celtic world since the earliest days - the lore keepers and even the king-makers. They had been the link between the world of men and the will of the Gods. Their ways were secretive because without such secrecy power would dilute throughout the world and much of the important lore would be lost.

The man opposite was busy running his fingers through drooping moustaches and toying with the braid at his ear. He was broad and tall and chiselled-cheekbones handsome. He oozed confidence and power. Three years ago, when the druid had been a renowned figure among the Ambiani and his tribe had been under siege by the Romans he had met their commander Caesar and had recognised instantly the man's hunger, power and will. Caesar - he had known at that time - was not a man to stop short of total victory - a man who saw a new world with him at the head of it. Those same things the druid could see in the gaze of the Gaul opposite.

Esus.

It was not his name, of course.

The
real
Esus was no simple
man
. The
real
Esus was the blood-slicked lord of war - the battle God who with Toutates and Taranis constituted the very heart of all druidic rites. It was a measure of respect beyond reason to call this man Esus.

But there were good reasons for the pseudonym.

For over a year now the Romans had been delving into the druids' business. They had upturned every stone and caught half a dozen messengers, trying to prepare themselves for what they saw as a plot against them. It had become necessary to give this man a new identity so that the Romans could not use his real name to uncover anything truly important.

Also, if all went the way the druids planned, there was every chance that this man would become the very embodiment of Esus in the world of men. He was an accomplished warrior, hunter and leader of men. He was of a noble lineage and a man who claimed to respect the druids and the old ways. On the surface it was everything they could hope for. The entire council had given their consent, despite the reservations a number of them felt.

After all, the man's father had sought to rule Gaul himself and he had been only
half
the man that his son had become. Could they trust this warrior? If they went to all this trouble and he was truly his father's son, they could be denying the rule of all Gaul to Caesar only to replace the detached and cold Roman for a single powerful overlord who knew them all too well. No druid would submit to an overlord whether he be Roman or Gaul

He sighed. The council had decided and everything was in motion. There was simply no going back now. Soon the whole world would writhe in flames and only one power could come out in control. If placing their very future in the hands of a would-be king was the cost of being that one victor then so be it.

"The Eburones were stupid" he said quietly, poking the fire with a stick.

The big man stopped playing with his braid, raised a quizzical eyebrow and then picked up his long, heavy, decorative blade and began to run a whetstone along it.

"And the Nervii were idiotic to go along with them" the druid continued. "They acted too soon. They sought to achieve the goal early and without our aid - to win the glory of a free Gaul for themselves. And now the Treveri are embroiled with Caesar's other man, probably expecting us to rush to his aid."

"It is all to the good" the big man said without looking up from his blade.

"How so?" the druid asked irritably. Three of the biggest tribes in the north east had jumped ahead of the plan and now they suffered the consequences, weakening the potential army the druids could count upon.

The big man continued to rasp along the keen edge with the stone.

"They tested the Romans and showed us what they could do. Until this winter we had only ever reacted to their attacks or dealt with them in small risings. Ambiorix and his allies showed us to some extent what is possible - they did destroy two legions, after all - and what clearly
not
to do. Add to that the likelihood that the Romans will see this rising of Belgae tribes as the culmination of what they have discovered rather than a symptom or side-effect, and we might find the Romans becoming a little more complacent in the coming year."

"Possibly" the druid conceded with a nod of his head. "But still it was a waste of men. I cannot see any potential benefit that outweighs the loss of potential forces."

The whetstone stopped mid-stroke and the bright, emerald green eyes of the man they had dubbed Esus looked up at him.

"When you asked me to lead, you did so not because of my lineage - and
certainly
not because of my father - but because I can bring you a strategy that will win you all of Gaul and the destruction of the Romans. And when we have risen up like vengeful spirits and driven them from our lands, I will become a second Brennus, taking our warriors back into their own lands and to the city of Rome itself. We will free Gaul and then shake and burn Italia and reclaim all our ancient lands that have languished beneath the Roman boot for generations."

He scraped the stone down the rest of the blade, admired his handiwork in the firelight and then slid the huge sword into its sheath.

"
You
look only at the immediate effects.
I
am looking ahead to the future. I know that you have spent two years building this plan and you have been surprisingly effective given your lack of experience or skill in the world of war or politics, but now it is time to relinquish your control. Now I and my companions will take the reins of this beast you have been rearing and prepare to ride it against Caesar. But we are still a year or more away from our objective, so be patient and leave me to my task."

"Do not disappoint us" the druid said simply.

"Have no fear" smiled Vercingetorix coldly as he rose to his feet, looming in the small hut. "Caesar will soon rue the day he trod our sacred soil."

END.

Author's Note

Where do I start? MM5 marks a turning point in the saga. I felt that there were too many threads hanging in Rome and too many doors that needed to be closed or opened, bearing in mind what the next few years will bring, and so it seemed prudent to set a considerable slice of the action there. This had become apparent during MM4 and even before that, during the third book, and is one of the main reasons for the departure of Fronto at the end of book 4. The other was the seeming repetition of rehashing the Britannia campaign two years running without some extra fun on the side.

And so Fronto was in Rome. There were tales to tell with his family and I hope that this volume has fleshed out something of the family history and brought the reader a tiny bit closer to understanding Marcus. Moreover, Fronto has been sliding from his prime for a few years and, with what is coming, it was something of a necessity to bring him to epiphany point and turn him around, strengthening and revitalizing him.

Hence the introduction of Masgava, who is one of my fave additions for a while. Despite their reliative minor roles, I also enjoyed Palmatus and Elijah. Galronus, of course, has come to the fore a little more in terms of his social side. It's all about
character
in Rome this time. I suspect that the 'star medal for interesting creation' will go to the Monster of Vipsul, though. Creepy.

A prime matter of import hiding behind the themes and plots in the book was bringing Fronto to face the necessity of returning to his role with the army while bringing Caesar's position to such a low point that the desperate need for officers of his calibre would overcome any rift and allow the reconciliation of the two - or something similar in lieu of direct agreement.

There are, as you'll have noted, a surpisingly high number of character deaths in this particular book of the series. Only some of this is my doing! History is my ultimate master, and 54BC saw some brutal events leading to the deaths of characters that have become somewhat central to events. Blame the fates, eh?

I have chosen to ignore or twist certain factors or events in the pursuit of a clear storyline or because I find them dubious in their authenticity or they fit the tale badly. A prime example is that Caesar's diary speaks of Mandubratius as Caesar's motive for being in Britannia but since it is thrown in almost as an afterthought, it sounds a great deal like Caesar later trying to justify a costly and only marginally successful escapade. His removal from the equation did give me a chance to build up Cassivellaunus to be the interesting character he turned out and to add another dimension to the great 'Gallic conspiracy' rather than making him yet another victim of Caesar's brilliance. I prefer to think that some of the Celtic commanders of the era would have been a match for the great general's intellect.

I moved the likely arrival of the news of Julia's death, which probably happened at the early stages of the Britannia campaign and kept them largely in the background as I do not belive those events would add to the story in any greater detail. The news of his mother and daughters' deaths were so intensely private to the general that he never even mentions them in his own text and so I prefer to see him locking away the feelings and ignoring it publically. It fits the general I have portrayed

Removing Caesar from the 'rush to the rescue' of Cicero and placing it in the hands of the survivors of the Fourteenth made literary sense and allowed for a heroic return of their eagle and its raising in battle. The complexity of the distribution of legions in late 54 cannot be 100% resolved without making intuitive leaps. It also occasioned a shuffling of officers.

The revolt of the Eburones is a notable turning point in Romano-Gallic tensions of the campaign. It is usually treated as very much a separate event as the great rising that was to follow, as have the ones that went before. Separate tribes causing trouble as circumstances and opportunity saw fit. I see it somewhat differently. I see it as a gradual increase in organisation and resistance and have thusly tied it all together with a druidic conspiracy. While there is no evidence of this, it adds to the general theme, I feel, and we know little enough about the druids to make this entirely feasible. And so the first major rising has become a 'jumping the gun' on the main revolt to follow.

In many ways this book was about two things: the exploration of character in depth, and closing and opening doors in advance of future events, preparing for the rise of a real enemy of Rome and then the troubles that Caesar will both face and create in the years that follow. Consequently, there are still threads hanging. For instance: the prophecy has been left not quite fulfilled. It does not take a deep understanding of the period to see how it will complete soon and what effects it has. The prophecy will resolve a little more next year

I originally envisaged the ending of the book to be more something of a Roman 'First Blood' with Fronto in the John Rambo role, but in late planning it developed in something of a different direction due largely to the fact that I felt Lucilia needed to have the last word in the fight. I hope the conclusion sat well.

Three books in a row have had increasing chunks based in Rome, but that comes to an end now for a while. The events of 53 and 52BC are so tumultuous that there will be little chance to look beyond the disaster that is Gaul. Those of you who prefer the military side and lament the increasing forays into the city, relax. Books VI & VII are solidly military campaign in their setting. After all, Fronto has nothing to go back to Rome for now.

So, looking forward I am champing at the bit to get into books VI & VII which deal with the great revolt and its architect Vercingetorix (who I have had brought to the cusp by the ever-troublesome druids). I also get to deal now with Marcus Antonius, who was one of the original character templates on whom Fronto was based and so the play between the two should be thoroughly entertaining.

Fronto is the strongest, fastest and fittest he has ever been.

He'll
need
to be with what comes next.

Simon Turney - May 2013

Full Glossary of Terms

Ad aciem
: military command essentially equivalent to ‘Battle stations!’.

Amphora
(pl. Amphorae):
A large pottery storage container, generally used for wine or olive oil.

Aquilifer
:
a specialised standard bearer that carried a legion’s eagle standard.

Aurora
: Roman Goddess of the dawn, sister of Sol and Luna.

Bacchanalia: the wild and often drunken festival of Bacchus.

Buccina
:
A curved horn-like musical instrument used primarily by the military for relaying signals, along with the cornu.

Capsarius
: Legionary soldiers trained as combat medics, whose job was to patch men up in the field until they could reach a hospital.