by Peter Rhodan
Morghanna and her party were conducted into the room at the north end of the basilica by Gawyn, Coel’s aide, who had arrived at her house accompanied by a Roman style town carriage for her to use, which was a nice touch by Coel, she thought. Inside was a well-lit room with painted frescos of country scenes on the walls. Looking around it became clear the room had once been organised differently given the marks on the walls where the colour changed showing that furniture or other items had once rested against them in those areas.
Now, however, the room was dominated by a table in the centre with chairs down either side and at the ends. The whole room was lighted by lamps of a type she had never seen before. Instead of the shallow bowl and wick these appeared to have a metal, possibly copper, base with a small glass tube rising above it within which the flame burned. The glass kept the flame safe from wind accidently extinguishing it which Morghanna thought was very clever idea. The light was a lot steadier than the lamps she was used to and the whole room impressed her considerably despite the place having a strange smell unlike anything she had experienced before. She decided the strange smell from whatever it was they were burning in the strange lamps.
There were several people she already knew seated at the table although there were still some empty chairs. The head of the table was empty but on the right sat Coel and next to him a hard faced man she did not recognise but obviously of high rank. On the other side of the table from this fellow sat Coel’s wife and next to her another woman who looked to be somewhat uncomfortable in her surroundings. There was another officer next to her and a young ensign opposite him. Udo was directed to sit next to this worthy while Cinhil was seated opposite. Morghanna was directed to the empty chair opposite Coel.
In front of her was metal goblet for drinking out of and a dull whitish ceramic plate with a blue pattern faintly showing against the whitish background. The quality of the ceramic was as good as anything she had seen and glancing around it appeared everyone had what appeared to be an identical plate which was an impressive feat. She knew from her own experience at making pottery as a girl that getting two bowls or mugs to look identical was almost impossible for even an experienced potter and wondered how they had managed it. Her family had owned several pieces of Roman tableware, now left behind, but they lacked the uniformity on display here. On one side of the plate rested a metal knife. It had a sharp looking blade and what she took to be a delicately carved wooden handle, until she realised everyone else had an almost identical knife. It must have taken a craftsman of great skill to produce so many identical handles.
On the other side of the plate was another wooden handled object, but one she did not recognise. It looked like a miniature trident and she had no idea what she was supposed to do with it. There was also a metal spoon, complete with a similar wooden handle. She looked over at Coel who smiled in welcome, but she was still deciding how to ask about the trident thing when the Dux swept into the room. He was accompanied by his ever present aide and trailed by three figures in black. Two of these scanned the room then took up positions outside the door while the third took station inside the room next to the door watching all present.
Arturo smiled as reached the head of the table. “My Lady Morghanna, Coel, Brennus.” He acknowledged “Lady Herwyn, Lady Ula.” He added nodding to the two ladies on her right. His aide sat at the other end of the table while he sat at the head. “Greetings all. Thank you for coming. This is meant to be a social occasion so we will avoid taking shop till after dinner.” He smiled.
Coel laughed. “Yeah right. I have had experience with your social occasions Arturo. Meries, remember that dinner at Dervent? No talking shop he said. What did we do?”
The officer beyond the two wives was clearly the one named Meries as he laughed. “Spent the whole dinner re-organising the Second Legion. Your wife was not amused, nor was mine.” He nodded to Herwyn who smiled back.
Arturo put a hand over his heart. “You wound me before our foreign guest.” His mock gravity merely caused all those at the table to laugh. Two young people entered the room, one male and one female, carrying pitchers of something to drink which they proceeded to pour into everyone’s cups. Arturo raised his goblet and all around the table did likewise, Morghanna followed suit not knowing what was expected of her. “The Republic.” Arturo intoned and they all repeated the phrase and took a swig from their goblets.
The liquid turned out to be a not unpalatable wine, watered in the Roman manner. Brennus obviously agreed. “Hey this isn’t bad Dux. Where did you get it?”
“It’s from Hispania. A certain nautical friend of mine picked up a few amphorae the last time he visited Portus Adurni. Some enterprising trader had brought a ship load of it into the place a few weeks earlier and then found it hard to move it all on in that limited market.”
“That is something that has been missing these last ten years or more. Regular trade with the continent. I haven’t seen one of these new ships you’re building as yet Arturo, but I hear they’re pretty impressive.” The person named Meries commented.
Arturo nodded not entirely enthusiastically. “It’s a good start. Took a whole lot longer to work the rigging out on the first one than I had anticipated but now the workmen sort of know what they are doing it should go easier.” He paused and looked apologetically at Morghanna. “See. There we go talking shop and we haven’t even finished our first glass of wine.” Coel and Meries looked abashed and Brennus snorted. The others smiled at the situation.
Morghanna smiled at the Roman next to her both surprised and bemused by the man. His casual manner around his senior officers was not at all what she was expecting and very un-Roman like, or at least unlike the descriptions she had heard of the arrogance of senior Romans. He was older than he looked she decided. Something about his eyes gave her the impression he was as old as her father. The apologetic smile he was giving her made him look particularly attractive as well as a good deal younger than her father! Now girl, she thought to herself, this is the man that crushed your tribe just a few months ago. Although to be fair her father had brought that upon himself. “So, tell me Lord Arturo, where do you come from?”
The man’s smile became a little more fixed and he leaned back giving those around the table a quick glance. “As far as I can tell, I come from far beyond the western ocean.” He said carefully.
Morghanna glanced around noting everyone was paying close attention, except his aide, Oween who was sitting back with a funny smile on his face. “I have heard tell the Scotti say no one who sails west ever comes back.”
Arturo nodded. “Yes. I have heard the same. We have several Scotti in the army now. Perhaps one day I shall see if I can prove them wrong. Or perhaps not. Things are going so well here that I feel no real need to go sailing off into the unknown.”
“Given the size of the ships you’re building you should have no difficulty. If you do decide to go west that is.” Brennus said. Arturo smiled and changed the subject to something more mundane with such a smooth transition it highlighted the fact he was not being completely open and had no intention of being so, or so at least Morghanna sensed although the others didn’t seem concerned at all. But then, they were used to him and his manners.
Morghanna decided to let the matter drop as she felt she would get no more from the man, tonight at least, and glancing at his aide she decided should further the acquaintance of Oween who obviously knew more than he was letting on. The whole dinner was a revelation to her. For a start they were not dining on couches lying on their sides as she had heard the traditional Romans did nor was this at all like the drunken revels of her father and his clan leaders which were loud, rude and messy with food scraps and spilled drink everywhere. This was an interesting mix of the dignified and the casual but with very nice table manners.
She turned to the Dux and smiled. “You have certainly done well for someone who is not a Roman.” She offered.
Arturo waved his hand in small move of negation. “Mostly
luck rather than skilful plotting I’m afraid. Sort of fell into one thing after another, and once on the horse I couldn’t get off.”
Coel snorted. “Don’t let him fool you. He is a very clever fellow who made the most of the opportunities he faced. All that fancy knowledge he has from his people helped of course. A lot of the rank and file think he’s some sort of wizard.”
Arturo looked sharply at Coel. “You’re kidding right?” He was clearly surprised by this comment.
Coel shook his head. “No. It is true. Of course once they see you trip over your own feet or fall off your horse like you did last month they soon realise you’re only human but a lot of them find you damn scary with all these innovations you keep throwing at us.”
He was interrupted by the young servers bringing out the first couple of plates of food. There was a plate of cooked vegetables and another of carved meat placed at her end of the table, but no one moved to start eating. Brennus chimed in on Coel’s previous statement. “Coel is right Arturo. Some of the men seem to think you directly commune with the gods. Or the devil as the case may be.” He smiled as he said this, obviously amused by the last.
Brennus had a Germanic accent but spoke the local tongue clearly enough. This was an incredibly eclectic collection of people she realised. There was a member of the local Brython nobility, a German of some description, Meries was clearly a local made good and Arturo was from somewhere else entirely. Yet there did not appear to be a single Roman present among what was the senior command group of the local Roman army. Amazing.
Once a second delivery of food had been made to the other end of the table people began helping themselves to the vegetables and meat. There were large tong things provided with which the food was transferred to their individual plates. Morghanna carefully managed to transfer a few vegetables and some meat to her plate without dropping any and then watched carefully what the others did with the miniature tridents. These she discovered were for securing the food for cutting and then for transferring that portion to your mouth. This was an interesting variation on the normal manner of either using fingers or stabbing the food with one’s knife to achieve the same goal.
Morghanna found getting the hang of it relatively easy and she was soon able to relax and study her surroundings once more. Coel and Brennus were both totally at ease with this new way of eating, as were the women to her left. Udo was struggling but gradually getting the hang of it, having clearly done the same as her and studied everyone else’s actions before making a fool of himself.
Once everyone had satisfied their immediate hunger pangs conversation resumed. Brennus looked at Arturo. “I heard Eugenius has had the railroad building team from down south transferred up here to help get the line finished to Lugowalion before the snows set in.”
Arturo nodded. “Theodorus was not overly impressed but was persuaded of the necessity. I sent him down to Glannoventa to start on the breakwater there to get him out of my hair.”
Coel almost smiled. “He means well.”
Arturo grimaced. “Well yes. But he can be damn stubborn at times. Anyway, once he has that project in hand I’m sending him to Arbeia and Segedunum to see about building docks and so forth there. The survey teams are nearly to Vindolanda with the survey for the rail line east.”
Brennus looked up. “What are you going to do about a crew for the warship you’re building?”
Coel nodded in agreement, waving his meat laden fork. “Not going to captain her yourself are you?”
Arturo smiled at this jibe. Morghanna did not understand the reference but it seemed to be a cause of mirth amongst the three men, and the two women as well, she realised from their smiles. Perhaps this Arturo had been a ship captain before landing here. Something else to extract from that Oween fellow.
Arturo waved his hand in negation. “As if I could go sailing off and leave you lot to run things successfully. God. Combrosius would be dining here within a month or that Corotoc fellow’s father would be. He has the biggest army going round these days.” Morghanna decided the Roman leader was only funning given the expressions of mock dismay on the other two men’s faces.
“With Brennus in charge it wouldn’t take Combrosius a month.” Oween piped up from down the table. This caused general mirth all round, particularly as Brennus immediately waved his knife at Oween in a threatening manner. “Keep it up mister fancy pants.” He said, half angrily half smiling. “You won’t always be able to hide behind your lord and master here you know.”
“Hey, don’t bring me into it.” Arturo said holding one hand up palm outward. “Oween’s a big boy. He had no need to hide behind me.”
Brennus shook his head. “But I know how important he is to you Arturo. I would not deprive you of his services when they are so important to you.” This caused more mirth around the table.
Coel leaned over and said in half whisper to Morghanna. “Oween is one of the best swordsmen in the army and has a special sword the Dux gave him. He’d carve Brennus up no time flat, but he lets Brennus play the big man.”
Brennus chose to wink at her at this moment to back this statement up. “Us Germani have a reputation to maintain surrounded by all these effete Brythons!” He said ginning.
Arturo diverted this conversation before things could go too far by turning his attractive smile on Morghanna. “And how are your people settling in Lady Morghanna?”
She found herself smiling back at him without realising she was doing so. This man certainly had a charm about him. “So far everything is going well. Your people have been such a great help, far more than I expected them to be, considering the recent past.”
Arturo waved his hand. “Your father thought he saw an opportunity and tried to exploit it. One cannot fault him for that. It is not as if we had an arrangement with him like we do with King Owain of the Votandi. But I would not let women and children starve or be subjected to the ministrations of the Scotti. Besides Coel here put in a good word for you.” Coel smiled at this.
Morghanna nodded to her cousin across the table and came to a decision. “I have much of my father’s treasure horde with me. I will use it to pay for food Lord Arturo as I would not have my people live totally on your charity.”
Udi spluttered at this admission They had kept the existence of the treasure to themselves on the trek south. It had been divided up amongst among the pack horses and carts of the senior people such as Udo and Lanwyllyn, with the idea being that if there was trouble it could not all be lost in one go. They had quietly assembled most of it in the house Morghanna had taken, a couple of the warriors who had been too ill to go north with their king were now serving as guards on the place.
“As you wish my Lady.” Arturo said, bowing his head. “I have no wish for you to feel beholden to us if you do not wish it so.” He turned to Coel. “We will be able to supply their needs won’t we?”
“Oh aye, Arturo. Valerius is already organising grain and other supplies down south. The productivity gains from the new ploughs are helping. As long as my cousin’s people are not too fussy in what they are prepared to eat, there should be no problem keeping them fed. It will leave our military granaries dangerously empty till next year’s harvest but that is a risk we’ll have to take. Besides, I’ve noted you’re not too big on sitting behind walls being besieged.”
Brennus snorted and Arturo smiled. Meries spoke up. “That’s true. He would much rather force the enemy to fight when he wants them to on a battlefield of Arturo’s own choosing where he leaves them no choice but to attack into his prepared defences. I’ve seen it three times now and I’m still trying to work out how he does it.”
Arturo demurred at this but Coel waved a hand to play down this modesty and said to Morghanna. “What Meries said is true. He is the very devil to face you know. I expect that sooner or later he’ll have to fight a battle against someone who won’t come to him but so far everyone has underestimated what they faced and obligingly attacked.”
Morghanna decid
ed to open her own wounds. “As my father did, I understand. You were with Maximus were you not? How did you avoid his fate Coel?’
Coel waved his fork at Brennus. “Brennus and I commanded the infantry. Arturo here very cleverly baited Maximus into charging off after Arturo’s badly outnumbered cavalry over a ridge and straight into the massed fire of his infantry positioned safely behind stakes so that Maximus’s cavalry could not get at them. The survivors came pelting back and hid behind our infantry full of tales of hundreds of men armed with fearsome bows.”
Brennus snorted. “And then he had some chaps hidden out on the flanks blow trumpets and Arturo here calmly implies we’re totally surrounded. Well Coel and I might have been willing to fight but our men were not and they were pretty obvious about it so we surrendered, even though we still outnumbered him about three or more to one. Tricky bastard.”
Coel laughed. “Tricky bastard is a compliment by the way. Arturo here has been a revelation militarily just as much as for all the smart devices he has introduced. Having scouts so far out and the new command and control structures he has introduced have given us an entirely different view of warfare.”
Arturo looked embarrassed by this praise but before he could say anything Brennus added. “Mind you it is not as much fun as the old days when we would lead from the front. All this standing around at the back and giving orders is very unexciting even if it is effective.”
Morghanna turned Arturo. “I understand that you now control the whole length of the Wall from sea to sea. So, what is next?” Hopefully not her people’s lands!
“Probably Combrosius at Eboracum. I am hoping I can talk him into joining the Republic voluntarily, although I’ve not had much success with that so far with any of the other Roman leaders I’ve tried to suborn. Only picked up a couple of flunkies so far.” He said with a grin and small wave of the hand to which Morghanna smiled as she realised he was referring to Coel and Brennus who both laughed at this description of them.
