Bedrock of Empire

by Thomas M D Brooke

  Cadmus nodded enthusiastically. ‘You need to remind my brother of that. He questions the costs over maintaining so many armed men, but we really have no choice.’

  I remembered his brother, Bonifatius, complaining about Cadmus wasting their resources. Perhaps this is what he meant. ‘Will you be able to give me a tour of the mine?’

  We approached the settlement buildings built into the side of the mountain. A slave ran over to attend his master. He was in his twenties, slight of build but muscular. Cadmus gave me a smile. ‘Of course, I’ll take you around myself. But first I have a few administrative details to take care of. Can I pass you over to the care of my young slave, Tomas? He’ll be able to settle you and your men into comfortable quarters.’

  I thanked him, and we followed his slave Tomas to one of the outbuildings. The rooms we were given were serviceable, rather than luxurious, but they were comfortable enough. I shared my room with Aulus, whilst Blasius camped with my eight Praetorians and Flavus in another. Viviana had decided not to join us near the mine, camping down by the river, whilst Audax had asked permission to take his horse out for a ride and a hunt. As we were now safely at the mine, I saw no reason to object and so agreed to his request. Hopefully, that would be the end of his bellyaching for a while.

  After Tomas left us, Aulus asked me, ‘So what did you make of Cadmus? He’s very different from his brother.’

  I sat on the bed and was pleased to find the hay-stuffed mattress reasonably soft. It wouldn’t be as comfortable as the feather mattress back home in Rome, but it was a marked improvement from the hard ground. ‘I suppose he’s a bit odd. But I actually quite like him. He seems a reasonable fellow. Welcoming but not obsequious. Truth be told, I much prefer him to his brother.’

  Aulus frowned. ‘Well, as long as you don’t let that influence your judgement in regards to the case. It should be Roman law and clear judgement that leads you to your decision. Nothing else.’

  I gave him a grin before lying back on the animal skin blankets that covered the bed. ‘Even if he offers to buy me a chariot like yours?’

  Aulus gave me a furious look, before realising I was teasing him. ‘Honestly, Cassius. This is no joking matter.’

  I grinned. ‘Yes, Aulus.’

  Before we’d waited long, Cadmus returned. Just as promised, he told Aulus and me that he’d take us up to the mine, which was a short distance above the settlement we were in. The two of us followed Cadmus up a winding stone pathway that had been carved out of the mountainside, whilst Blasius and Tomas followed behind at a respectful distance. After we had travelled just less than a mile, the steep gradient levelled out and revealed a wooden stockade that had been constructed between two rocky outcrops.

  ‘The gatehouse protects the main mine,’ explained Cadmus, waving his arm to a hard-eyed guard on top of the tower built above the gate. ‘If Aleixo were ever to attack, I can move all my men behind the safety of the stockade.’

  I took in its construction. It was clear that it hadn’t been built using the clean precision of the legions’ engineers, but it looked solid enough. Providing they had enough food and water on the other side, they could probably fend off any attack short of a major army. ‘That would be a lot of mouths to feed,’ I pointed out.

  He nodded as the gates were swung open to us. ‘Yes, I have over three hundred guards, plus twenty skilled artisans and a few other skilled workers necessary for the running of things.’

  I frowned. ‘Yes, but you must have thousands of slaves as well?’

  ‘Over two, maybe three thousand. I’m not sure exactly how many. They don’t need much though.’ He ran out of patience with how long the gates were taking to open and went on ahead of us, shouting, ‘Come on, we don’t have all day.’

  I looked over at Aulus with a quizzical look on my face. That was a strange answer. How could he not know how many?

  Aulus frowned; clearly he’d noticed that too. I shrugged and followed Cadmus and Tomas through to the main mine workings. This mine was very different from the one we’d come across near Asturica. There, the mine had been opencast, so they could dig out the gold vein that was visible on the surface. Here, the gold vein was deep underground, so the only way they could reach it was by tunnelling. A few work parties of slaves walked up to the mine opening, looking broken and dejected. I still wasn’t used to the sight, but I had at least expected it this time – Viviana was right to avoid these places. ‘I hear your slaves come mainly from Dacia?’

  Cadmus looked at me as if distracted. ‘Yes, I have lots of contacts from my time there. Whilst Bonifatius was spending his time sucking up to the high command, I used my time wisely and made several business contacts.’

  Aulus interjected. ‘Very wise of you. Can you tell me what those buildings are there?’ My brother-in-law was pointing at two large workshops where they appeared to be constructing vast wooden wheels. ‘Those look to be the biggest wheels I’ve ever seen in my life. Surely too large for even the largest of wagons?’

  Cadmus gave a great guffaw of laughter. ‘Those aren’t for wagons! They are waterwheels, which are used to help drain the water out of the mines. Water drainage in the mountains is one of our biggest problems. Slaves power the waterwheels by treading on those slats you see being added to them, lifting the buckets on the other side. I have a whole series of them underground, but I needed a few more for the new mine.’

  I tore my eyes away from the string of slaves stumbling up to the mine opening. ‘And where is the new mine?’

  Cadmus waved his hand in dismissal. ‘It’s on the next mountain over, but the works there are no way near as advanced as here. Here, we’ve had time to perfect the process of deep mining.’

  Cadmus showed us where they washed the gold ore, extracting the valuable gold from the rock and debris before taking it to the large furnaces, where the gold was melted into gold ingots. ‘We transport the gold in heavily protected armed convoys down to the Roman camp at Legio. From there, the legion arranges transport back to Asturica.’

  I looked at a large gold ingot before me. ‘Aren’t you worried Aleixo might overpower your convoys? This gold would do a lot to further his cause.’

  Cadmus nodded, but he reassured me. ‘I’m careful never to transport more than two ingots per convoy. That way, the risk is mitigated and I can only lose a small amount. Aleixo doesn’t have enough men to risk them on attacks for low rewards, so he’s left us alone after one successful attempt on a convoy followed by two failures.’

  Aulus put his hands on his hips. ‘Won’t transporting in small quantities prove problematic once the gold revenue increases?’

  Cadmus gave a light laugh. ‘Once the gold revenue increases, I can afford more guards. That won’t be a problem – gold solves all our problems in that respect.’

  I rubbed my chin. ‘What makes you so certain that gold revenue will increase?’

  Cadmus’ eyes lit up in excitement. ‘Because the further we dig, the more we find. I know I’m pushing the barriers of conventional mining here, but the rewards are almost limitless. The opencast mines run by Bonifatius will soon dry up and then where will we be? My methods are opening up a whole new world of possibilities. Soon we could unlock the mountain’s treasures completely – my way is the future!’

  I admired his almost religious zeal when he spoke about mining, but I still felt I was missing something. ‘Can we go down the mine ourselves? I want to see this new wonder for myself.’

  Cadmus looked at me aghast. ‘You can’t mean to travel down into the actual mine yourself?’

  I was taken aback. ‘Well, yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I?’

  Cadmus shook his head vigorously. ‘Because it is far too dangerous. Underground, there are countless dangers. Not only is there the risk of flooding, there is the risk of cave-ins. Also, sometimes when we open up a new cavern, poisonous gases are released. It is far too dangerous. I can’t allow it.’

  He sounded genuine when he stressed the dangers. ‘But
you’ve just told me you have up to three thousand slaves working these mines? They go down there.’

  Cadmus looked at me incredulously. ‘But they’re just slaves. If anything was to happen to you, I would get the blame!’

  Alright, enough was enough. ‘I insist you instruct someone to take me down the mine. Aulus will stay here and testify if necessary that I volunteered to go down of my own accord.’

  Cadmus looked quite shaken. ‘You won’t like it. The temperatures underground are fearsome, and the air stale and putrid.’

  ‘Nevertheless, I’m going,’ I insisted.

  Cadmus released a great sigh. ‘Alright, but I warned you.’

  Aulus shook his head. ‘Cassius, can we discuss this?’

  I looked round at him in irritation. ‘What’s to discuss?’

  Aulus looked equally irritated and pulled me over to one side, out of earshot of Cadmus and his slave. He whispered to me, ‘You can’t put yourself at such risk. Anything could happen to you down there, and we’ll never know what happened.’

  I looked over at Cadmus and Tomas. They were watching us intently, as it was clear what we were talking about, but they didn’t try and edge any closer into hearing range. I turned my back on them and quietly told Aulus. ‘I have no choice. I’m sure this is important.’

  ‘Well, at least let me come with you?’

  I stopped and thought about it. Aulus was right. It was dangerous to go alone. ‘Thank you for the offer, but I need you here. I’ll take Blasius.’

  Cadmus instructed his slave Tomas to take me, telling me, ‘He’ll look after you well enough.’ His gaze moved over to Aulus. ‘Meanwhile, I’ll show your aide our records and the accounts. You said he’d need to see them.’

  Aulus nodded and I agreed. ‘Yes, he’s much better at that side of things than I am.’

  Cadmus sniffed. ‘Just like my brother, useless with his record-keeping.’

  I frowned. I knew full well why his brother was so vague with his records; he didn’t want anyone finding out what he was up to. Most crooks wrote nothing down that could incriminate them. But I said nothing to his brother – I didn’t want to reveal my hand too early.

  I signalled to Blasius to come over and join us. He’d been following us around but was oblivious to our discussion. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ I clapped him on the shoulder.

  We left Aulus with Cadmus and made our way up to the mine opening. It was only as the three of us started walking up to the mine’s entrance that I realised I might have made a mistake with my lictor. ‘You seem very quiet. Are you alright?’

  A worry line creased his forehead. ‘Where are we going, Cassius?’

  I looked at him carefully. ‘Sorry, Blasius, I should have asked you. We are going to the mine. That’s alright with you, isn’t it?’

  ‘Into the mine?’ He swallowed hard, then seemed to recover himself. ‘Yes, of course. I’m your lictor, I follow where you lead.’

  It wasn’t the most convincing bravado I’d ever heard. ‘Does that bother you?’

  He shook his head. ‘I’ll be alright. I’m just not used to enclosed spaces.’

  I tried to reassure him. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing much more than a big cave.’

  He smiled and laughed, and wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘Yes, I’m sure you’re right.’

  Tomas called from the path above. ‘Is there a problem?’

  Blasius answered for me. ‘No problem, we’re coming.’

  When we got to the top and looked at the opening, my heart sunk. It was a narrow shaft that led down a very dark and dismal hole. ‘How deep does it go?’

  Tomas said softly, ‘It descends for about a stadia, and then opens out to the main gallery.’

  I was shocked, ‘A whole stadia! So far?’

  Tomas nodded. ‘I’m afraid so.’

  Blasius went as white as a sheet. He looked at the dark hole in the ground in horror. As my lictor, Blasius would be expected to give his life to protect me. He was a former centurion, seen action, acquitted himself bravely through long service in the legions, both in Spain and the Praetorians. I’m sure with a blade he was fearless, but this took a very different sort of bravery.

  I wasn’t so removed from the man I was a year ago to be unmoved by the sight of someone struggling to find their bravery. I’d hidden fears from others for years in Rome, and I guessed that Blasius had somehow kept this particular phobia of his secret. I put my hand on his shoulder. ‘It’s alright, you don’t need to come down with me.’

  He didn’t move his gaze from the dark hole. ‘I can do this,’ he whispered to me.

  I decided to take the decision away from him. ‘I’ve decided it’s better if you stay here. Guard the entrance. Make sure you are ready to cut anyone down that tries to follow us.’

  He looked up at me. ‘Don’t take me for a fool. You don’t need anyone guarding the entrance!’ He said this angrily, but I noticed the hope in his eyes.

  I kept my hand on his shoulder. ‘Yes, I do. No one knows I’m coming down there, so if anyone means me ill will, it will come from this direction.’

  He nodded and touched his gladius hilt. ‘I won’t let anyone pass.’

  I smiled. ‘I know you won’t, Blasius.’

  I gave him a final clap on the shoulder and walked over to Tomas, who, to his credit, had remained silent and apart throughout the episode.

  ‘It will just be the two of us,’ I told him.

  He just nodded. ‘We will need to be lowered down by rope.’

  ‘How do you get people in and out of the mine quickly?’ I asked him. I wasn’t without fears myself.

  He shook his head. ‘We don’t. Most of the work crews stay down there permanently. It would prove impossible to rotate all the workers, so they live down there.’

  I swallowed hard. ‘By all the gods.’

  Tomas told me, ‘It’s not too late to change your mind. No one would blame you if you didn’t want to go down there.’

  I looked at the young fit slave with short-cropped dark hair and intelligent eyes. ‘No, I need to do this.’

  A rope was tied around my waist and I was slowly lowered down into the mine by two burly slaves. Most of the time their job was to either lower supplies or to haul up a series of iron buckets made heavy from dirt from the excavations. A tough and repetitive job but clearly one they preferred to anything that went on below, judging by the look on their faces when I told them I was going down the mine.

  As I was slowly lowered, I felt the closeness of the rock surround me. As I descended, the heat gradually increased. I started to sweat, but I think it was more from claustrophobia than the increase in temperature. I’d heard of people like Blasius, who held fears of being trapped in tight and confining spaces, but up until now I’d never considered myself one of them. But this was changing my opinion. As I descended, I felt the oppressive weight of all the rock that surrounded me, and my heart started to beat faster and faster. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing, averting the panic that had momentarily overtaken me. I could just pull on the rope and tell them I’d changed my mind. As Tomas had said, no one would blame me. Blasius and I could return, possibly concoct some tale to tell the others.

  I suppressed those thoughts and steeled my resolve. I could do this. I wasn’t going to run away from what lay beneath. It felt like an eternity being lowered down that mine, but eventually I reached the bottom. I untied the rope so it could be taken back up to lower Tomas. Whilst I waited for the slave to be lowered I looked around the mine’s dim interior, lit by a few small oil lamps that dotted the wide but low-ceilinged passageway. A few emaciated slaves stood by the entrance alongside an overseer who supervised what was needed to be taken out or brought in.

  ‘Tomas is showing me the mineworks,’ I told him.

  He gave me a stiff nod but said nothing more. I moved past him, keeping my head low so it didn’t bang against the rock above me. A line of slaves
lay along the main gallery. They wore nothing except filthy loincloths, due to the stifling heat, and their wasted bodies clearly showed ribs poking through their thin skin. Some were eating their meagre rations, whilst others lay exhausted on the bare earth and the rocky surface. The stench of the mine was awful, stale air that felt close and clammy. There was a loud clanking sound, accompanied by the sloshing of water, as well as the steady tapping of iron picks against rock. ‘By Persephone and Hades,’ I whispered to myself. ‘What is this place?’

  Tomas dropped down the rope and joined me. ‘The mine branches out from the main gallery. I’ll show you more of it. Follow me.’

  Tomas led the way with a small oil burner, which held a flame that guttered weakly in the poor air and barely lit our path through the low corridor. We were required to crouch down low as we passed, and I felt my head swim. I leant my arm on the earthen walls to steady myself.

  Tomas looked back and saw that I’d stopped. ‘The air is thinner here. It takes some time to get used to it. There are a few shafts to the surface that bring in and circulate fresh air, but they are difficult to carve out through the rock, so there are never enough.’

  I nodded and steadied myself. ‘The heat doesn’t help.’

  ‘The heat grows with the increase in numbers of slaves,’ he explained. ‘We are not sure why. But once we get past the main gallery, the heat will lessen slightly.’

  I nodded and signalled for him to continue. I didn’t have the breath to say more. We carried on along the corridor, occasionally needing to squeeze past the filthy and sweating bodies of slaves who were resting after their shifts. Tomas explained, ‘They work until their oil burners run dry, then they return here to rest, when other slaves take their place. That way the mine is constantly being worked.’

  I looked at the pathetically thin bodies of the slaves as we passed. ‘Why have they been so poorly fed? Surely the stronger the slaves, the more work can be done?’