Alexandra sat in stunned silence for a full minute. The tears which had been welling up in her eyes soon gave way to a shocked laugh. Finally, she responded with a single syllable: "Yes."
Chapter X
Marcus was overcome by a strong feeling of deja vu as he crossed the threshold into The Countryside Inn; it had been more than a year since he had first entered the establishment, and it seemed like nothing had changed. The inn's foyer was unchanged - a few patrons sat scattered through the room, most dead drunk despite the early hour. Just as I entered this room on the verge of a major milestone in my life so many months ago,Marcus thought, I enter it today on the verge of another such milestone. It is hard to believe how much I have changed over the past year - I have gone from being a pathetic drunk staggering through alleys, wishing nothing more than to live my life unnoticed to becoming a proud and mighty General once again. Not only that, but the grief which threatened to consume me has been replaced by love once again. Not that I do not still grieve for Lucia, in my own way - I suspect that I always will, and that she will be with me for the rest of my life. However, Alexandra has filled in me a void which I had thought would never be filled again. Perhaps the old man who rode with me from Xanten a year ago was right...amongst Gods and men, I must still be blessed and loved by those who matter most.
Striding boldly through the foyer, Marcus made his way to the bar. A familiar face was found there, peering out over a jug of wine. Vito set the jug down on the counter as Marcus approached, greeting him with a warm smile.
"Ah, my friend," he said, "it is good to see you again. I could use your services...come, smell this wine. It just arrived from the vineyard an hour ago, and I'm not entirely certain that it's the sort of beverage I would care to serve to our customers."
Marcus leaned down over the jug and sniffed at the liquid inside. At first, he wasn't entirely sure what Vito was getting at - though strong, the wine seemed to be of reasonable quality. It was only after he took a second whiff of the wine that he detected a very slight almond undertone to the scent. Marcus pulled back quickly and stared at Vito in shock. He knew full well that the kind of almond smell he had detected in the wine had only one source - cyanide.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Marcus said quietly, "but unless I am mistaken, the nutty aftertaste of this particular vintage would not agree with our customers. I'm sure the city guard would be more than happy to take it off your hands, however - their standards are much lower when it comes to fine wine."
"That was just what I was thinking," Vito said with a smile. "Well, now that we have that settled, please come with me. I believe I have what you're looking for downstairs."
Bowing his head slightly, Marcus followed Vito as he placed a cap on the wine jug and stepped through the door behind the bar. As they had done over a year ago, they walked down the stairs in silence, neither saying a word until they were safely inside the secret meeting room in the inn's basement.
"I confess that I wasn't entirely certain you would make it here today," Vito said breathlessly as he hastily lit several candles to provide them with light. "I heard news of a bit of a scuffle in the streets nearby last night - a fellow of your description was mentioned as featuring prominently in the ensuing chaos. I was afraid that you had been scooped up by the constabulary in the aftermath."
"It's good to know that my reputation precedes me," Marcus said. "It's true that I was involved in the incident you refer to, but I managed to make it to safe harbour without being noticed."
"Obviously. Given that several Sicambrii warriors were killed in the streets, it is highly unlikely that your head would still be attached to your body if you had been captured. Vestatian has been cracking down on suspected traitors for the last few months, executing anyone if so much as a spectre of a doubt is placed on their loyalty. I think he has heard that Emperor Trajan's campaign in Dacia is beginning to wind down; he wants to be able to present at least a passable facade of a dissension-free province should the Emperor decide to turn his watchful eye this way."
"Indeed," Marcus said, "for if the full might of the Imperial Legions were brought to bear on this province, Vestatian's Sicambrii army would be crushed under the imperial boots. However, we digress: on the subject of yesterday's debacle, we will be host to the incident's instigator in a few hours. I instructed him to make his way here at noon; I believe he will make a useful addition to our forces."
"Do you think it was wise to trust him with the location of our little centre of operations?"
"I think he can be trusted," Marcus said. "You weren't there, Vito...at least, I didn't see you there. This boy was spouting some pretty vitriolic stuff. There is no love lost between him and the Sicambrii, and I think he would jump at the chance to strike out at them."
"Good," Vito said. "Because if he betrays us, all we have worked for could end today."
"It won't," Marcus said. "Now, to business - has Domitian returned from his excursion south? I believe that we should all sit down and compare notes - figure out what our options are, and how many men we will have at our disposal."
"He is in the city," Vito said. "He arrived back here last week, shortly before our operatives who travelled west from Cologne returned. It seems that you are the last of us to come back...I hope that is because you have good news."
"I do," Marcus said. "And I will reveal all in due time. When can we have Domitian here?"
"I will dispatch a messenger," Vito said. "I am sure that Domitian will be able to get here within the hour."
Sure enough, it took little more than half an hour for Vito's dispatch to bring Domitian to the inn. He strode briskly into the basement meeting room, greeting Marcus with a wide grin and firm handshake.
"Good to see you back here, Marcus," he said. "I see that the fates haven't exactly been kind to you."
"Ah, I take it that you refer to this," Marcus said, gesturing to the jagged white scar which ran across his forehead. "Actually, I consider it a blessing from the Gods - you should have seen what happened to the one who gave me this little decoration."
"I'm sure he is buried beneath an unmarked rock somewhere in the wilderness," Domitian laughed.
"Several rocks, actually. Not to be entirely crass, but his death was not swift, nor did his corpse end up in a single piece."
"It's good to hear that you enjoyed yourself, Marcus. I trust that you were able to actually accomplish some work while you were gone."
"Indeed so, though we were not as successful as I would have hoped." Marcus reached into a pouch at his side and withdrew a handful of carefully rolled up papers. He spread them out over the table, one at a time. "As you can see, Alexandra and I were able to set up a total of three training camps in the western reaches of the province, and referred approximately three thousand and five hundred potential recruits. I have sent dispatches to each of the training camps this morning, asking for full status reports from each camp. If all has gone well and the Sicambrii have not managed to destroy any of the camps, they should all prove to be valuable resources. Just before you arrived, I was explaining to Vito that I have also recruited a young man from within the city here who may or may not prove to be an asset."
"From within the city? How is it," Domitian said, "that you did not know of him already, Vito?"
"By all accounts from my men, it seems unlikely that this boy shall be of any true significance. More likely he is simply a rabble-rouser with a few friends who despise the Sicambrii. There are dozens of such men in the city. I cannot possibly be expected to keep track of them all, or to anticipate which of them may be charismatic enough to start a minor riot," Vito snapped back.
"Relax, my friend," Domitian assured Vito. "I am not blaming you for anything; however, I do place trust in Marcus' assessment of this boy's character. If he really can be an asset to us, then it surprises me that your operatives throughout the city have not made at least a cursory note of him."
"Everyone," Vito said with a sigh, "and I do mean everyone
in this province, hates the Sicambrii. Many of them have banded together in quasi-militia groups. My operatives have noticed and catalogued dozens - perhaps hundreds - of such groups. Some of them have been approached as potential recruits; others have been passed over as innefectual or inappropriate for military service. Still others, I am sure, have managed to escape our notice completely. If this boy," he said, stressing the word 'boy' heavily, "proves to be a potential asset to us, I am sure we will be able to embrace him with open arms. I simply wish to make it clear that the chances of that happening are slim, to say the least."
"In other matters," Marcus said, attempting to smooth over the tension which had arisen, "how has your own journey fared, Domitian?"
"Much like yours," he replied. "Successful, though not so successful as I would have liked. I supervised the development of two training camps, and sent roughly fifteen hundred men - both new recruits and veterans, you understand - to train there. I suppose that is the best result I could have hoped for in that regard; my failure was found in Germania Superior. I spoke with General Vesaevus, leader of the provincial legions VII Augusta and XXII Primigenia. He has offered us six hundred men from XXII Primigenia, but no more than that - and those men will only be available to us if we are able to send him a dispatch when they are needed, and will be available to us for no more than three months. The General asked me to send his apologies to you, Marcus, and convey his wishes that he could be of more assistance, but their forces are apparently quite busy quelling their own barbarian uprisings."
"Still," Marcus remarked, "six hundred men is no small commitment. I know Vesaevus well, and trust that he will not send us inexperienced troops. We will receive six hundred seasoned veterans - that sort of force is one to be reckoned with, even if they take some time to arrive. So we have a total of roughly five thousand men so far, plus the six hundred from Vesaevus and any that Vito and his men have been able to raise in the cities and the eastern reaches of the province?"
"Yes," Domitian said.
"My men in the east have been able to raise and train two thousand soldiers in all. A total of seven thousand men, plus Vesaevus' troops, will be at our disposal."
"I'd be more comfortable with five times that number," Marcus said. "Do you believe it is even possible for us to triumph with so few men? There were two full legions - over ten thousand men - at Agrippinensis, and we were defeated there. Granted, Ceresius' influence played a major part in that defeat, but those were still ten thousand well trained, seasoned soldiers. Even with perfect tactics and a well trained militia, I have serious reservations about our ability to defeat the Sicambrii horde."
"My men have conservatively estimated Vestatian's current army at roughly twenty five thousand warriors," Vito said. "They have more than replenished their numbers since Agrippinensis, but I believe that we can still find certain advantages."
"Such as what?" Domitian asked.
"I can think of any number of advantages," Marcus said. "The Sicambrii still do not know about our army - even if Vestatian himself has grown suspicious of our plot, and there is no proof to believe he has, he has no idea how many of us there are, or where we are based out of. That gives us the element of surprise.
"The Sicambrii are also spread thin through the province. While a head to head encounter between our armies would be ill-advised, a series of simultaneous concentrated guerilla strikes at Sicambrii forces throughout the province would provide us with an excellent opportunity to cull out some of our opposition."
"Perhaps," Domitian said, "but their forces will rally together eventually, and a head to head battle between our forces is inevitable. Do you believe it is possible for us to reduce their forces sufficiently to make such a battle feasible?"
"I believe so," Vito said, "but it will not be a simple matter. Following strikes such as Marcus describes, it will be necessary for us to root out the Sicambrii fortified in our cities. Even if we can do this in just Xanten and Cologne, it would provide us with a tremendous advantage. They will have nowhere to flee to, no walls to hide behind. We will be able to rout them and run them down like dogs."
"That still leaves us with the problem of a large scale battle," Domitian said. "Even if we manage to reduce their total numbers to fifteen thousand, how can we hope inexperienced militia troops to win a battle against experienced warriors who outnumber us more than two to one?"
"I agree that a fight would likely be impossible to win in such circumstances," Marcus said. "I can only conclude, then, that we would be best served by not confronting the Sicambrii on their own terms."
"What do you mean?" Domitian asked.
"The Sicambrii are experienced at fighting face to face, swinging axes and hammers and the like. We are Romans, not barbarians like that - we can augment our forces with siege weaponry. Catapults, ballistae, and onagers will help us slaughter the Sicambrii before they are able to strike out at us. If we are able to draw their army to the location of our choice, we can have the middle ground between our forces soaked in oil to be lit as they charge at us. I am sure that we can concoct any number of strategies which will help level tilt the battle to our advantage."
"So what should we do next?" Domitian asked.
"I suggest that we send riders through the province," Vito said, "to determine approximate sizes and locations of the major Sicambrii encampments. That knowledge will allow us to coordinate assaults to our greatest advantage. If we send my best men on the swiftest horses we can acquire, then they should be able to scout and return in roughly two months - three months if they encounter severe difficulties."
"Agreed," Domitian said. "I understand that our group has acquired a sizeable treasury over the last year?"
"Yes," Vito said. "More than enough gold to serve our purposes."
"Good," Domitian said. "Use whatever coin is necessary to equip these riders fully. Tell them that we will require their reports in three months time, and have them depart at first light tomorrow. After that -"
Domitian was interrupted by a knock at the meeting room's door. Holding up a finger to order the silence of Vito and Marcus, he nodded to Vito, and then at the door. Vito stepped backward to the door, a pair of knives appearing in his hands as if from nowhere. He opened the door a crack, spoke a few hoarse whispers to whoever was on the other side of the portal, and then relaxed.
"Your friend is upstairs," Vito said to Marcus.
"What are you waiting for? Send him down," Marcus said. "And don't bother protesting. Look, if you think that he's useless to us, or could prove to be a liability or a traitor, then feel free to kill him. It's not like there isn't blood on all of our hands already. Just hear the damned boy out. He was willing to fight for our cause; I think we owe him at least a few minutes of our time."
Although Vito was reluctant, Domitian nodded his assent to Marcus' suggestion. With an exasperated grunt, Vito turned to the still-cracked open door and whispered orders to the person standing beyond. It took only a minute for the door to swing wide open once again, and a familiar grubby little ragamuffin stepped through. Marcus noted - with a certain amount of distaste - that the boy had not even made an effort to bathe or clean up since the day before. Ah, well,he thought, at least he managed to show up without attracting the attention of half of the city guard.
"First of all," Domitian said, addressing the young man, "tell me your name."
"Andrenius Vallium," the boy said, obviously in awe of the men standing around him. His awe was well-founded; only a day earlier, he had been wandering the streets of Cologne, looking for an opportunity to cause some trouble for the Sicambrii. Now he was in a hidden meeting room, faced with the two men who had been the most powerful military leaders in the province through most of his adolescent years.
"Andrenius," Domitian said, turning the name over in his mouth as if looking for some hidden meaning in the syllables. "It has come to my attention that you have been causing a bit of a stir in the streets lately; I refer specifically, of course, to the rio
t in the streets yesterday.
"Judging from the look on your face, I'm going to assume that you know who I am. I'm sure, then, that you also have an inkling of what exactly myself and such an esteemed figure as Marcus Ulpius are doing here. Assuming that you are able to connect those two bits of knowledge in the most logical manner possible with the current political underpinnings of this province, I believe it should be no stretch of the imagination to say that you have some idea of what we are doing here. Would I be correct in that assessment?"
"You're planning a revolt," Andrenius proclaimed, "aren't you?"
"Yes, in a manner of speaking," Domitian said with a small laugh at the boy's childlike enthusiasm. "To be more precise, we are reconstituting the defeated legions which comprise this province's military in order to defeat the heathen barbarians who have unlawfully seized control of the reigns of power. We shall then reinstate the province's rightfully appointed governor, Antonius Ceresius. Needless to say, the sort of stunt that you pulled yesterday does not make our job any easier."
"I'm sorry," Andrenius said. "If I had known, I would never have stirred up trouble."
"No apologies are necessary," Marcus said. "In fact, I believe that things may have worked out for the best. You had the charisma necessary to draw a good crowd; that sort of ability is all too lacking in most people. You could prove to be a useful part of our plans, if you are willing to submit to our orders."
Fallen Legion Page 15
