Finally, comfortable that they were alone and out of all earshot, Ategnio stopped and grabbed the king by the shoulders.
‘ What happened? ’
‘Plans changed, Ategnio. They have a habit of doing so.’
‘But why didn’t you kill Caesar while you had the chance?’
‘That wasn’t Caesar, Ategnio. Serves me right for relying on the word of ill-informed tribesmen. All this time I’ve been planning what I’d do to the old goat when I had him in my hands, and all this time it wasn’t him. He was clever enough to send someone to do his dirty work after all. ’
‘But sire, the Convenae will be here today. We can still win, even if it is not Caesar, so why run?’
The king fixed Ategnio with a look that made him shiver. ‘Because, my friend, that’s not just Caesar. That’s someone much, much more dangerous than Caesar.’
Urging Ategnio on along the stream valley, the king shook his head in disbelief once more.
‘Marcus Falerius Fronto, where in Hades did you spring from?’
Chapter Ten
SPRING seemed to mean little in the lands of the Arenosio. A cold wind howled through the narrow alleys of the fortress as Fronto marched grumpily, kicking a stone so that it skittered along the dark lane and bounced to rest against a timber wall . All around him the fortress was coming to life as the first strea ks of gold laced the high streamers of cloud above the mountains. The night had seen the thick , low fleece that covered the sky pull apart and with that the temperature had fallen, though mercifully it remained dry. Four hours had passed since the legion had taken full control of the place Terpulo had affectionately named Rectum – an appellation the legionaries had quickly taken to.
Despite everyone’s exhaustion there had been no time to rest . The ever-present threat of Convenae attack remained in the minds of all the men, and the need to be ready overrode all else. For four hours the centuries had been hard at work, burying the Roman dead and dealing with the fallen of the Arenosio . There had been no pyres and no burnings , though . Quite apart from the effort and time involved in obtaining the timber, Fronto had decided that they could hardly afford to send up a smoke signal that might spur the Convenae on to greater speed . So in the end , the fallen legionaries had been given appropriate rites as best they could and were then piled in a natural hollow a few hundred yards from Rectum, where sickened, tired legionaries had hastily covered them with a thin layer of earth and turf. The Arenosio, on the other hand…
That image was one that wouldn’t leave Fronto’s tired mind. He was no great lover of displays of gruesome power, though he recognised that in war they sometimes had their place, and he’d left Arruntius and Terpulo to deal with the dead. Outside the north and on the ridge across the gulley, stretched in two concentric rings around the place, were the six-pointed temporary camp defences formed by sudis stakes, and each of th os e jagged fence sections was home to the corpse of one of the Arenosio on bloodthirsty display . T he enemy dead had numbered just over five hundred and there were around three thousand men left in the legion, each with a stake. Thus the numbers had worked out almost precisely, with the few dozen spare corpses thrown onto the stakes in random places for good measure .
It was an extra level of defence , and hopefully it s d é cor would pick away at the enemy’s resolve too. Fronto didn’t have to like it , though .
He made his way through the fortress to the king’ s house where the officers were gathered, with the exception of Arruntius and Terpulo who remained in place overseeing the work. The legate could feel the fingers of exhaustion pulling at his eyelids and creeping across his muscles, but he could do nothing about it. He had laid down for almost an hour when his legs seemed to fail, but even then he’d been unable to sleep and had simply risen once more in the end and fortified himself with wine. Now, as he peered around the faces of the others, he could see his exhaustion echoed in every expression.
‘Morning everyone .’
There was a chorus of polite greetings, and Fronto staggered over to the king’s throne and sank into it, waving his hand at the various campaign stools and wooden seats that had been assembled. ‘For the love of Juno, don’t stand on ceremony . Sit down and rest as best you can.’
Once everyone was seated and silent, Fronto cleared his throat and yawned.
‘Alright. Let’s have a think. The signal fires the Arenosio lit burned out some time ago, but the scouts we sent up to the peaks have seen answering fires all too close. Galronus, what’s the estimate?’
The Remi noble stretched and leaned forward in his seat. ‘Judging by the position of their fires they’ll be here by noon at the latest. I’ve sent men out to try and spot the enemy themselves to ascertain numbers and makeup, but they won’t be back for at least an hour. Also, we found a few sites where Arenosio pickets had been based anywhere up to a mile from here. They’ve all been abandoned , but many of them had stabling facilities, so we can only assume that they fled on horseback. Likely they joined up with the Convenae and will be back here soon enough .’
Fronto nodded. ‘ The prisoners are all contained, I gather, but we’ll leave them be for now. . We have too much to do and we’r e all tired , so interrogation can wait . V ery likely that smiling bastard of a king has joined up with his Convenae allies and is marching back toward us , so there’ll be little to learn from the prisoners anyway . Atenos, what’re our own numbers now?’
‘Two thousand, one hundred and nineteen active men and fighting wounded. A little over three hundred sick and injured. We’re looking short on the centurion front. We lost quite a few in the attack.’ The legion’s most senior centurion cast a look around his peers in the room, rolling his eyes. ‘We always have a high body count, of course, but these veterans are one link short of a mail shirt. I think they left their sense of self-preservation back in Lapurda.’ Far from taking the comment as an insult, this appraisal raised smiles from the older centurions around the room.
‘Then you’ll have to make some field promotions, Atenos. Reform the legion into fresh centuries at full strength and see how many officers short we are. You can grant the crest to the best men then . Carbo… ’
‘Legate?’
‘ What’s the latest with the fortifications?’
‘We’ve completely dismantled the camp across the valley and brought all the baggage into Rectum.’ He smiled as he used the fort’s nickname, as did most of the others in the room.
‘Perhaps we can speak to the prisoners after all and try to find out what they call this place so we can squash this puerile notion,’ Fronto said disapprovingly, though he was finding it rather hard to suppress a smirk himself, and he knew full well that now the name was with the soldiers it would stick permanently .
‘ The animals are stabled in three of the larger houses, ’ Carbo went on, ign oring the comment. ‘ T he goods are packed away in three more, and the carts themselves have been used to block the outmost alleyways, turning the settlement itself into a last redoubt should the rampart fall. We’ve completely sealed the south gate now, blocking it with stones , and the lads have extended the earth rampart across the rear of it. You have to look hard to see that there ever was a gate there. The north one we’ve left open for the scouts when they return, but all the materials are there to do the same thing there . By the time the Convenae get here Rectum will just be a solid ring of wall with no holes. Rectum will be sealed shut, you might say.’
This time there was open sniggering from among the officers. Fronto rolled his eyes as Carbo went on , grinning . ‘ We tried to dig a trench across the north, but it’s solid rock a foot or so down, so there’s no hope in the time we have. We’ll just have to rely on what’s there. The walls can’t be heightened themselves , though we’ve put a flimsy timber palisade above them, and there’s not time to mortar the stones together, so that’s all we can do.’
‘We found one interesting thing, Legate,’ added one of the more senior centurions . ‘We pulled down the outermost houses to
reuse their timber on the parapet , and one house to the east contained a trapdoor. Underneath was a tunnel that ran out all the way to the gulley. It had been opened recently, so we can only assume that was the way the king escaped. We’ve filled the tunnel in now with rocks and earth and covered over the inner entrance with a floor of heavy timbers, so it can’t be used to break back in. We also found a native with a broken leg in the gulley nearby. He was jabbering away in his own language at us, but all the scouts are out east, so we’ve no idea what he was saying. ’
Fronto nodded. ‘Good. H ave some men go through every square foot of this place and check for similar tunnels . If there was one there could be another, and if the king has met up with the Convenae, he’ll know any secret ways. Sounds like this survivor of yours has something to say. Where is he?’
‘With the medical staff at the moment, sir.’
‘Galronus? When we’re finished here, can you come and help me with the man?’
The Remi noble nodded.
‘Right. What’s the food situation?’
‘We’ve plenty,’ Carbo replied. ‘We had rations with us for another week or more, and we’ve taken control of the Arenosio granaries and stores. We could hold out for two months if need be.’
‘If it goes on for more than a day , it’ll be too long. I want this fight won and quickly. If the king is with them, he’ll be at liberty to escape and flee when things turn sour, and if he isn’t then every hour wasted he gets further away. ’
‘On the bright side,’ Decius smiled, ‘we’ve commandeered several thousand arrows and slingshots from the Rectum – rectal? – stores, so we’re well supplied. I’ve got Arcadios and a couple of my lads going through the legions, checking out the soldiers. A few of them are showing natural ability with a bow or sling, and a few have used one before.’
‘Legionaries with bows?’ Carbo asked, surprised. ‘I bet they don’t like that. Smacks of being treated like the auxilia. No offence, Decius.’
‘None taken,’ the auxiliary prefect replied, though with a stony face. ‘I know your men like to think themselves superior, but they also know the value of arrows in a siege, and you’d be surprised how many are interested. With Atenos’ permission, I’ll pass out the bows and slings and ammunition we’ve impounded among them. If we can double our arrow cloud s , it has to make a difference.’
Fronto nodded, and Atenos smiled. ‘ It’ll do them good.’
‘Excellent,’ Fronto said, leaning back in the seat. ‘We need to talk a little more about specific unit placement and tactics, but I’d like to know the enemy strength first, so let’s call an end to this for now. Despite the urgency of everything, we all need a little rest before we face the enemy again. Pass the word out. Every other man is to be given two hours of shut-eye, then they can swap over, officers included. We’ll be no good to anyone if our eyes keep closing while we fight. Alright, people. Dismissed.’
The officers piled out of the door, leaving Masgava, Aurelius and Galronus with the legate.
‘You need rest more than anyone,’ Masgava said bluntly. ‘I can run things while you have a nap.’
Fronto smiled. ‘I’ll take you up on that once I’ve seen to this prisoner . Then in two hours it’s your turn and I’ll take over again . When the enemy do attack, by the way, you’ve got the south side. I’m giving Carbo the east , Atenos the west, and I’m taking the nor th. Decius can be mobile throughout the whole place, and the centurions will each have their sector. More than that I can’t say until we know what we’re up against.’
Galronus stretched again. ‘As soon as the scouts return, I’m going to bring all the cavalry inside. There are still two hundred and four men, including the natives. We’ll stable the horses in a few of the houses along with Bucephalus and the other officers’ mounts, t hen those men can be added to the defenders. They’re all good with a spear, which could be useful at the walls.’
‘Alright. Masgava you have command of Rectum. Gods, but you’ve even got me doing it, now. You two can come with me and see this captive.’
With the pair at his heel, Fronto exited the king’s house and made his way through the maze of alleys that was slowly becoming more familiar , to the east rampart. The ground there was scarred in a wide swathe where the outer buildings had been torn down to give the legion more room to work around the walls, and the three of them passed a wagon that could easily be wheeled across to block the all ey in moments. Men bustled around the wall, and here a makeshift hospital ha d been set up using two large tents. Legionaries sat around waiting to have minor wounds seen to, while there were cries of pain and sobs of hopelessness from inside. A small pile of limbs sat by one entrance, threatening to turn Fronto’s stomach. For a moment it seemed they were all Romans here , but finally Fronto spotted a capsarius crouched by a native, busy fishing around in his leather medical bag while two legionaries stood guard, pila pointed at the man’s neck. .
‘I presume, then, that you speak no Latin,’ Fronto said to the filthy, drawn-looking native with the matted hair and tangled beard as he came to a halt in front of him .
The man shrugged in incomprehension.
‘ Galronus, can you ask the man what he wants ,’ the Legate asked quietly.
The native issued a stream of words in his strange, harsh tongue. Galronus listened hard, trying to translate the unfamiliar dialect into his own, let alone into Latin. There was a long pause after the man stopped, a hopeful, challenging look to his face, and Galronus coughed.
‘ I believe he thinks he has critical information for you regarding the king, and he wishes to bargain for medical attention and his freedom with it. ’
Fronto pursed his lips and folded his arms. ‘A bargain. His life and his leg for information about the king.’
Galronus nodded. ‘ Important information, he thinks.’
‘ Gods know we need every bit of information we can get, ’ Fronto said, ‘ especially on the king. If his information is useful, then I swear by Fortuna and Nemesis that he will have all the medical attention he require s and his freedom too . But only if it is of interest.’
The re was another pause as Galronus passed on the agreement to the man, having to try several times to get some of the words right. Finally, the native smiled a smile that was more sneer th an anything and rattled out more of his speech. Fronto listened and waited, watching with impatience and a little uneasiness as the Remi’s expression passed through confusion to bemusement and then disbelief.
‘What is it ?’
The Remi turned and fidgeted. ‘He says the king has crossed the mountains. He ’s going through the lands of the Ilergetes to the Roman town of Acco. It stretches credibility , though . Why would he go to a Roman town? The man is lying to buy his life.’
Fronto’s frown deepened. ‘Acco? There’s no such place.’ A suspicion passed through his mind, and he leaned toward the warrior. ‘Do you mean Tarraco ? ’
‘Tracco,’ the captive nodded his agreement.
‘It’s rubbish,’ Aurelius said in agreement with Galronus. ‘He’ll tell you anything.’
Fronto was still frowning, though, as he stepped back and straightened. ‘I’m not so sure. I…’
Flashes of inspiration were shooting off in his brain, connections forming like dreadful bridges to the truth. ‘He’s going to a Roman city. What if he is a Roman?’
‘What?’ demanded Galronus and Aurelius at the same time.
‘Think about it. He’s been crucifying people. That’s a Roman punishment. They dug lilia pits for our cavalry like a Roman. He’s been mimicking the birth of Rome with his federation of tribes overwhelmed by force. He was clean shaven and much more plainly dressed than your average native chief. Everything points to him being Roman. And he knows Caesar. He thought he was luring Caesar to battle. And he’s gone to the Roman provincial capital now. The man’s a Roman. I’m damn sure of it.’
Galronus and Aurelius, eyes wide, were nodding at the logic of Fronto’s words .
/>
‘But what would a Roman be doing here ?’
‘ Someone who kno w s Caesar,’ Fronto repeated as a connection formed and smacked him in the face like a brick. He felt his skin grow cold and prickle with goose bumps .
‘Someone familiar with Tarraco…’
Wham!
‘Someone with knowledge of Roman military tactics.’
Wham!
As he actually staggered back a step from this imaginary blow, h is mind furnished him with a picture of the man standing in the king’s ho use, his eyes widening in shock even as the arrow left the bow, nudged from its intended path at the last moment.
‘Someone…. Someone who knows me .’
Wham!
‘Shit.’
‘What is it,’ Galronus asked in a worried tone. Aurelius had closed on him , clearly concerned for his legate.
‘Shitting shit. Tarraco. He’s gone back. He’s gone home. And he wants me to follow.’
His legs suddenly felt useless, weak and wobbly. He’d not realised he’d fallen until Aurelius caught him and lowered him gently to the ground.
‘Who?’ Galronus hissed.
Fronto could hardly see, the panic whipping his brain into a mess . It couldn’t be. How could it? But it was , and he knew it. His subconscious had known it too , even in the hut at the moment the arrow had left the bow. It had tried to alert him then . With a shiver, Fronto felt the exhaustion claiming him as the shock removed the last of his resolve.
‘Fronto… who ?’
‘ Verginius ,’ Fronto whispered as he shivered. ‘ Gnaeus Verginius.’
* * *
Fronto blinked awake, startled and confused. The room stank of brazier coals and old, well-used furs. A face was peering down at him, and in his bewilderment, his mind woolly but suffused with vague feelings of betrayal and loss, he lashed out at the figure .
‘ Calm,’ Galronus urged, dipping to the side to avoid the flailing hand.
‘What?’
‘You collapsed at the ramparts. The hospital.’
Marius' Mules IX: Pax Gallica Page 28
