Bedrock of Empire

by Thomas M D Brooke

  Chapter Sixteen

  We marched for another few miles, until we’d passed the barren and empty fields that had once been the fertile lands of the great city of Numantia. The long light evenings of high summer made it possible to continue late into the night, and nobody wanted to stop where we were. When the grass and foliage started to return to the roadside, I felt the tension of the men begin to slowly dissipate. Before long I decided to ask Marcus to stop and start setting up the camp.

  We took ourselves off to the side of the road and cleared an area of brush and brambles. The lands of Numantia, even past the areas that had been adversely affected by the Roman conquest, were largely treeless, so we knew a perimeter stockade was out of the question. Normally, in treeless terrain, a Roman army would fashion caltrops, each made from binding three pila together and setting them along the perimeter of the camp. However, a century of legionaries was too small a number, as we simply didn’t have enough spears to secure a large enough area. So instead, Marcus asked the legionaries to dig a trench and then pile up the thick brambles and thorny underbrush in a makeshift palisade. It wasn’t as secure as the high walls of Tarraco or Caesaraugusta, but it made the men feel better. They’d clearly been spooked by passing the empty ruined city, and for once there’d been no objection to spending time constructing a defensible position. Roman soldiers were a superstitious lot, and the Praetorians were clearly no exception. No warriors in the world were braver than the Roman legionary, but bravery against the living was one thing, against the dead was another matter.

  After the camp was completed, the sentries looked alert as they peered through the late twilight, keeping a tight hold on their weapons. Marcus and I stood by the section overlooking the rocky outcrop on which the ruins stood, now a few miles in the distance. Marcus kept his voice low, so as not to be overheard by the nearby sentries. ‘The men don’t like it. It was hard finding men to scout the surrounding area tonight. No volunteers came forward, so I needed to order a few of them.’

  I nodded knowingly. ‘They want to stay close to their comrades, wrapped up by their campfires. I can’t say I like this much myself.’

  Marcus grunted. ‘Me neither. At least no one objected to setting up a proper camp tonight.’

  Iovis had been a bit reluctant at Marcus’ insistence on securing a defensive area each night, as we were travelling through an allegedly friendly province. Marcus whispered to me, ‘I can’t see how brambles and thorns can stop the shades of the dead, but for some reason it makes me feel better knowing they’re there. I guess the men agree.’

  I looked out at the ruins and tried to imagine them in times past. There were two rivers that passed the high hills on which the city had been built. One river fed several lakes just visible on the far side. It must have been beautiful here once, before Rome had wreaked its environmental destruction on the region. ‘Tomorrow we’ll be far from here and away from the memories of the dead. The men will come round. They’ll just be a bit jumpy tonight.’

  Marcus nodded. ‘Yes, they all seem affected. Everyone except Aulus in fact.’ Marcus gave a nervous chuckle. ‘He said he didn’t believe that the dead return to haunt the living, and he insisted on going on his nightly run.’

  I looked at Marcus. ‘Really? I wondered where he was. Is that where he is now?’

  Marcus nodded. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he was running through the ruins themselves. There seems to be hidden depths to your brother-in-law.’

  I smiled. ‘I’m beginning to realise that myself. In Rome I’d always thought him a pompous and overly officious man. But maybe all I needed to do was get to know him better. I now understand why my sister married him.’

  Marcus took his helmet off and wiped his brow. ‘How did the match come about?’

  I gave a slight laugh. ‘My father got embroiled in a legal case after an ill-advised venture into the property market in Rome. One of my father’s buildings collapsed after a fire.’

  Marcus looked shocked. ‘By the gods, was anyone killed?’

  I shook my head. ‘Fortunately not, but a few needed to be saved by the vigiles. Some of the residents blamed the fire on the construction of the tenement block and demanded compensation. Antonia met Aulus when he came to visit, as Aulus was defending my father.’

  Marcus returned his helmet to his head. ‘Did Aulus win the case?’

  I nodded. ‘Yes, but my father never dabbled in property again. He was so pleased with Aulus that he agreed to the marriage with Antonia before he left to take up the governorship of Sicily.’

  Marcus gave me a sidelong look. ‘And now you’ve taken him to the other side of the world? Your sister won’t be happy if anything happens to him.’

  I nodded. ‘That’s an understatement.’

  Marcus brightened. ‘Well, you needn’t worry about the shades of Numantia stealing him away … here he comes.’

  I looked up and saw Aulus running towards the camp, elbows jutting out, face framed with concentration as he measured his ground-eating pace through the dying evening light. I waved to him as he came into view and he bent his run over to our part of the palisade.

  He jogged up to us and blew his cheeks out, before bending over and resting his hands on his knees. ‘Phew, that was a good run. My fitness will take a while to return, but it’s good to be back doing something.’

  I smiled. ‘You didn’t see any ghosts then?’

  He straightened himself up. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Cassius. There is no such thing as shades of the dead.’

  I inwardly thought that it was ironic that the reason we were all on this journey to the furthest reaches of the Hispanic provinces was due to a night-time visitation by exactly that. But I thought it better not to tell Aulus of my dreams of Decius. ‘Will you join us for dinner then? Blasius made me a stew from two rabbits Audax caught. He left it in a pot over my fire before joining Iovis and a few of the others.’

  Aulus nodded. ‘I’d be delighted. But how do I get past this damn ditch and bramble bush?’

  Marcus smiled. ‘There’s an entrance around the other side. We’ll meet you by Cassius’ fire.’

  Marcus and I walked over to the banked campfire alongside our sleeping blankets. An iron pot was hung over the fire, and it smelled deliciously of the thyme and pepper Blasius had cooked with. Marcus and I sat down and were about to start eating when a large commotion started at one of the other fires.

  We got up and ran over, to find Iovis and Blasius shouting at each other. A few of the other soldiers were holding Iovis back, and Audax was restraining my lictor.

  Marcus bellowed at the men, ‘What by Hades is going on?’

  All eyes turned to us, and Blasius shouted, ‘He’s trying to welch on his bet! I won the hand. He’s not paying up!’

  Iovis, a grim-looking man with thick black hair that ran down his neck, long arms and a highly pronounced forebrow, growled, ‘He threw his dice out of turn. I owe him nothing.’

  Blasius disagreed. ‘I didn’t play out of turn. Your other man had already dropped out. Isn’t that right, Audax?’

  I’d heard enough. I raised my voice to the men for the first time since leaving Rome. ‘Do you think either of us give a damn? Iovis, you’re a centurion of the Praetorian Guard. You’re supposed to be setting an example.’

  Iovis lowered his thickly browed head.

  ‘Blasius, you’re no better. Arguing over dice? Brawling in front of the men? You’re supposed to be my lictor!’

  Blasius looked taken aback. ‘Sorry, Cassius, I didn’t think. I just—’

  I snapped at him, ‘That’s right, you didn’t think.’ I paused to compose myself. ‘I swear dice cause more arguments in the army than anything else.’ I turned to Marcus. ‘Go collect the dice.’

  He nodded and went to their fire and picked up the dice they’d been gambling with.

  I addressed all the men. ‘Dicing is a privilege, not a right. Tonight, that privilege has been abused, and that has consequences. Firstly, all wi
nnings from tonight’s games are to be returned to their original owners.’

  Blasius looked horrified. ‘But I was on a winning streak! You can’t—’

  I raised my voice again. ‘Don’t interrupt! All winnings are to be returned, no exception.’

  Blasius nodded shamefaced.

  ‘Secondly, I don’t want any more dicing amongst the ranks until further notice.’ There was a great groan from all the men, but I wasn’t going to back down now. ‘If you can’t behave yourselves, you forfeit any privileges.’

  Marcus came up to me and handed me the dice they’d been playing with. I gave them my sternest stare. ‘Now return each other’s money and then go back to your fires.’

  A few of the men, Blasius included, walked over and swapped coins, before turning and returning to their fires. Iovis was surrounded by a few of his Praetorians, who were grumbling under their breaths, whilst Blasius joined Audax by his. I was pleased those two were keeping themselves apart, I didn’t want this argument flaring up again tonight.

  Marcus and I returned to our own fire, where Aulus was sitting down waiting for us. ‘Did I miss something?’

  I smiled. ‘Nothing much. The men are just a bit out of sorts at the moment. Tension can do that. Arguing over dice as usual.’ I threw the dice at Aulus’ feet and then sat down next to him. ‘I was annoyed Blasius was involved though.’

  Marcus sat down too, nodding. ‘Yes, I can’t say I’m happy with Iovis either. He is a difficult man, but up until now I at least respected his professionalism.’

  Aulus started rolling the dice himself, whilst I explained to Marcus, ‘It’s always the same with dice amongst the men. Brings out the worse in them. Who’d ever have thought a centurion and a lictor would be accusing each other of cheating.’

  Aulus rolled the dice again. ‘Well, one of them was cheating.’

  Both Marcus and I turned to Aulus. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  Aulus looked up. ‘One of them was cheating. Look at this, you have to throw it carefully,’ he gave the dice a shake in his hand and rolled them over ground in front of the fire. ‘Six, six, four.’

  I was dumbfounded. ‘A good throw. Could it be by chance?’

  Aulus shook his head. ‘They don’t land every time, but more often than not. Look I’ll try it again.’ he threw the dice again, getting two sixes and a five. He tried again, this time he got the incredibly rare six, six, six. ‘All three dice favour the six, so the chances are you’ll always get a high score.’

  I shook my head. ‘Loaded dice. No wonder they were arguing about whose turn it was.’

  Marcus looked puzzled. ‘Why’s that?’

  Evidently Aulus knew all about this type of scam, so he explained. ‘You can’t throw loaded dice every throw, it’d be too obvious. You need to substitute these loaded dice at the right time, just as the stakes have risen. If someone plays out of turn, the wrong person could end up winning.’

  Marcus looked furious. ‘I’ll get them both back here. We’ll find out who’s behind this.’

  I picked up the dice and stood up. ‘No you won’t,’ and threw the dice as far over the palisade as I could manage. No one would be finding them anytime soon.

  Marcus stared out into the darkness after the dice. ‘What did you do that for?’

  I sat back down again. ‘At the moment, the men only hate me for taking their dice away. If they were to find out one of them was cheating, they’d be drawing weapons. I don’t want any bloodshed on account of this.’

  Marcus looked exasperated. ‘But shouldn’t we find out who the culprit is?’

  I shook my head. ‘They’d only blame one another. Chances are both of them would cheat given half a chance. We’ll need to keep an eye on them though. There’s no way I’m going to let them dice again whilst we’re in Spain.’

  Before we left the campsite the next morning, I waited until Blasius was fetching some water from a nearby stream before checking on the horses myself. I unobtrusively checked the saddlebags carrying the gold, making sure that nothing was missing. Much to my relief, each bag looked to be as full as I remembered. There was no way of checking for sure, short of emptying them all out and counting them, something I had no intention of doing. But I was satisfied that Blasius hadn’t been risking Germanicus’ gold on his night-time gambling. After checking, I felt a little foolish for being so untrusting. Blasius was now a close friend, and what’s more, he had an unimpeachable record of service spanning two decades in the legions. That was the trouble with being betrayed by one friend, it sometimes made it hard to trust anyone else.

  We left the cold ruins of Numantia behind us and made swift progress over the next ten days, gradually nearing Gallaecia. The road remained largely untravelled along the way, other than the odd shepherd or goat herder, just as Audax had promised. The stone marker to the side of the road that demarcated the boundary between the two regions was largely superfluous; we knew we were approaching Gallaecia by the great mountains that reared up from the flatter unforested river lands we’d been travelling through. At the foot of these mountains was the newly formed city of Asturica Augusta, built from the wealth of gold mining in those same mountains, and our destination. Originally, the city had been nothing more than a military encampment, a leftover from the Spanish wars. But since such vast quantities of gold started making its way out of the Gallaecian mountains, a large number of merchants’ and traders’ attention had switched to this provincial backwater. As usual, I sent Blasius and Audax on before me, to warn of my coming, and slowly approached the city. As in most Roman cities, certainly those built in semi-hostile territory such as this one, it had the trademark high walls and large gatehouses. However, where it differed was in the lopsided and confused design of its perimeter. One whole side of the city was taken up by the vast Roman military camp, whilst the other walls looked to have been added later in a haphazard fashion, in an attempt to try and encircle the rapidly expanding city. Each wall seemed to have been built independently from the others. The rush for gold had clearly left little time for central planning.

  The gates were swung open as we drew near them, and wonder of wonders, a band was playing on the other side to welcome us in. Two men played the cithara, strumming away on their harps, as another man punctuated the tune with two cymbalum, which he clashed together. As with most things found on the frontier, the quality of the band left much to be desired, but I think I did a passable job of keeping my face composed and resisted the urge to wince at the miss-hit notes.

  A small crowd of dignitaries waited alongside the band, and one of them, a portly man in his mid-thirties wearing a white toga with the thin purple stripe of the equestrian class, announced, ‘Welcome, Quaestor Cassius Aprilis! Welcome to our humble city.’ He had thinning black hair and nervous-looking eyes, which he tried to mask with a very unconvincing smile.

  I pulled up my horse. ‘Let me guess, you must be one of the Paulus brothers?’ I asked with a wry smile.

  He gave me a bow. ‘Bonifatius Paulus at your service. May I welcome you to Asturica.’ He looked up and told me, ‘I am so sorry to hear that my old friend Germanicus could not come in person – he is a man I’ve always held in the greatest respect. But I am sure Germanicus has his reasons, and as he has sent you, I am sure you share the same qualities of virtue and duty as my former commander in the legions.’

  I looked at him. ‘Let us hope I don’t disappoint you. You know why I’m here?’

  He nodded. ‘Yes, your man told me.’ He pointed behind him, to where Blasius was waiting with the horse he’d ridden in on. Blasius inclined his head whilst Bonifatius continued. ‘The regrettable dispute regarding my late father’s will. You will learn that the contention between my brother and I is derived from nothing more than a misunderstanding.’ He put his arm round the man next to him, a slight fellow in a plain greying toga. ‘My lawyer, Kanutus, will be able to fill you in.’

  I dismounted from my large stallion and deliberately changed the su
bject by asking Bonifatius, ‘You served with Germanicus in Dacia I hear?’

  He nodded enthusiastically. ‘Yes, I served in Dacia up until two years ago, and I only returned when my father died. The three years’ fighting in that province was the making of me. ’

  I hid a smile to myself. The making of him or not, clearly he hadn’t worked on keeping his soldier’s physique in the past two years. Bonifatius’ large belly was doing its best to poke out of his immaculately clean white toga. I kept my eyes on his face. ‘Is your brother here too? I hear he served as well?’

  Bonifatius’ face darkened. ‘My brother Cadmus is out of town at the moment. He is unreliable that way.’ He tried to lighten his tone. ‘But let’s not worry about that now. Please, come join me in my home. I will have my slaves prepare a large banquet in your honour.’

  And no doubt ply me with food and drink so that Bonifatius could bend me over to his way of thinking over the contested will. ‘I would love to join you, but alas I need to care for my men first.’

  Bonifatius frowned. Clearly he hadn’t anticipated feeding a full century of Praetorians. ‘Well, I’m sure I can find a stable or something for your men to camp in. Either that or I’ll ask my slaves to vacate their quarters so your soldiers can make themselves comfortable?’

  I smiled. ‘No need to go to so much trouble. I was going to visit the military camp before making myself available to listen to your dispute. Common courtesy demands that I at least greet the legate, who I understand is in residence?’