by Tanya Allan
“Is he in port at the moment?”
“Yes. I think his ship is due to leave in about a week. He’s taking timber on board.”
“Where is he taking it?” I asked, trying to keep my voice low.
“No ideas; wherever he can sell it for a profit, I reckon.”
“Any passengers?”
“No idea, he doesn’t have to log the manifest until day of leaving. What are you after?”
Gaius looked at me, and then answered the diplomatic way.
“Not sure yet. Some local tribesmen were captured and there’s a link to this port and perhaps some stolen stores are being sold to accumulate funding for a possible uprising. Who knows?”
“They are crafty bastards; that’s for sure. Have a drink?” he asked hopefully.
We stayed a little longer, drank one cup of indifferent wine and left, having been given directions to Glax’s ship.
“You can’t miss it. It’s a tubby round affair with a dirty great horse’s head on the prow.”
He had been right, one couldn’t miss it. It lay between a Roman naval galley with three rows of oars on each side and a scruffy little boat that didn’t even look seaworthy. It was probably a boat to take stuff up-river where the larger ships couldn’t reach.
I felt we were amazingly obvious in our uniforms, standing out in an area of hustle and bustle with local labourers and a few better dressed merchants and traders. A patrol of six legionaries came towards us, sweeping through the crowd as effectively as a snowplough through snow.
I caught more than a few hostile glances at the soldiers, of which they neither appeared to see or care.
The senior man saluted Gaius, bringing the patrol to a halt.
“Sir, can we assist?”
“Do you get much trouble with stolen goods?” Gaius asked.
The man laughed.
“Do wolves piss in the woods? Of course, but we try to keep a lid on it.”
“Do us a favour; keep an eye on that tub behind us. We’ve information that they might be receiving stolen military supplies. I’d like to know who goes on and off, and what sort of stuff is being loaded. Can you do it without drawing attention to yourselves?”
The man grinned.
“We could manage, sir. Is this official?”
“Clandestine. There could be a reward.”
All the soldiers grinned at hearing that.
“Where can we reach you?”
Gaius told him.
“Be careful, someone has already been killed sneaking about,” I said.
He nodded.
“I heard about that. It was a local labourer. They said he fell in the water and banged his head.”
“He was working for us.”
“Oh.”
“It is important that nobody else knows, as someone is selling the stuff so we need to catch them. It could be one of our people.”
Gaius left it hanging there. In armies across the globe and through time, all soldiers believed that quartermasters were all on the fiddle. For the most part, they often were, but they were also in the position to do favours, which is why they were often allowed to get away with it. The taxpayer was the victim, so no one else was bothered.
“Do you want to get closer?” Gaius asked as the soldiers moved off.
I regarded the ship for a moment. There was a slight wind blowing from the east, so the flags and sails on the various vessels fluttered in the breeze. Sailors and labourers shouted, while seagulls called as they swooped down to snatch an unexpected morsel from either the water of on the quayside.
Here we stood, resplendent in our uniforms of officialdom, like two rocks on an otherwise sandy beach.
“No, we’re far too conspicuous like this. I might come back at night.”
“Give the soldiers a day or so. They might come up with something. Besides, even if they get caught and say what they know, that would simply lead this Glax to believe that no one knows the real reason we’re after him.”
I noted the ‘we’.
“Gaius, you don’t have to...”
He held up his hand.
“Look, Gallinas has no skill, experience or honour, but he’ll be up there very soon. I’ve reached as far as I can get. I’m an ill-educated, army brat, who has done well, considering. You’re the best thing to come into my life that I could imagine. I’m here for the duration, however long that is. All right?”
I saw a couple of faces on the ship looking our way.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. My tits need a break!” I said, turning and marching towards the gate.
We took a longer way back, as I was keen to see what the Romans had done. There had been a settlement here before they came, but there was little evidence of it now, barely a hundred and fifty years on.
As I had already observed, most of the buildings were timber framed and often wattle and daub. However, the layout was more regimented, as per the military engineers that had designed and built it.
There was certainly a lot going on, with flourishing markets and stores where traders were selling their wares. It was novel to see livestock being herded along the streets, and often penned up at the various shops. Wooden cages of live fowl hung from hooks outside the shops, and cloth that had come from the other side of the Mediterranean was available, but at a price that was probably beyond all but the few rich Romans, or Romanised Britons. Not that there were too many of those, yet.
We came across a slave market in a small square. We stood and watched as pathetic creatures were dragged in front of the small crowd and sold into what I considered to be a living death.
They were mostly women and children. I wonder how many of them would be sexually and physically abused by those who bought them.
I began to get angry. I felt a hand on my arm, so I became aware that Gaius was watching me closely.
“Leave it. I know, it is shit, but you can’t change the system just like that. You said you don’t want to stand out, so just think what the consequences would be if you did something morally right but downright idiotic?”
I turned, shaking off his hand and walked off at some speed. It took me several hundred yards to calm down, so Gaius managed to catch up.
“Hold up!” he said, grabbing me by the arm.
I surprised myself by having tears in my eyes. I put it down to the hormones.
“I don’t understand you,” he said. “One minute, you are going into battle and prepared to kill, and then next, you’re weeping over some insignificant slaves.”
“Those poor sods have no choice. They are forced into slavery. No one makes a man go to fight, in that he has a choice. Sometimes, it’s tough to turn and walk away, but the choice is still there. Those poor wretches have no choice, and they are cast into a shitty life because of other men’s greed.”
“Some of them may find a better life. You know, scratching a living from the soil isn’t necessarily considered freedom. They are slaves to their circumstances.”
“Yes, I agree, but they at least have a choice to try to better themselves. Slaves don’t.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence.
Back in my tent, it was a massive relief to free my chest from the constraints of the breastplate. I gently massaged my friends as Gaius regarded me with an odd expression. He had stated that he would wait for me, so he could return the borrowed uniform. I told him to come in before people thought he was loitering.
“Need a hand?” he asked.
“No thanks. I think you might get carried away.”
“That is definitely possible,” he said.
There was something of Roger in this man. He was dependable and infinitely honourable. He had a code by which he lived, and even though others did not regard it, he maintained it at all times. He had shown his intelligence and ability to think laterally and outside the box. He was not a typical grunt, and the Romans, through their social mores, were missing out on having a talented senior military commander in this m
an.
“I owe you an explanation,” I said. “But I can’t tell you. I want to, but can’t.”
He was regarding me with a strange expression; strange to him, but I recognised it. He wanted me.
I knew what I looked like, so that wasn’t surprising. I wore a single plain shift that covered my genital region, just. If I were to bend over, he’d see everything. Having rid myself of the centurion’s clutter, I was enjoying the freedom of unrestrained bliss.
“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he asked.
“I bet you say that to all the centurions?”
“Don’t jest, woman. You’re driving me insane. I always thought I could resist female wiles. You deploy none, and yet, I am powerless before you. I have never wanted anyone as much in my life.”
He stood, with the tent flap closed behind him, tall and strong, hands on hips and lust in his eyes. The smell of sex was in the air and I breathed it.
I wanted him.
Memories of Roger came to me. That first time he took me in his arms and made love to me....
I took my shift off.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” I asked.
Now I know why the Romans wore those little kilt things. Far less hassle than pants! I had expected him to be quick, but perhaps not as quick as he was. That comes from thinking about it too much before the event! I suppose it paid me a sort-of compliment, as he must have been wound up terribly to simply come after perhaps a dozen strokes. I hadn’t even got going. He was mortified, poor love, having collapsed on top of me as his cock shrunk and slithered out of me.
“Forgive me,” he said, almost in tears. “It has been too long.”
“Then let’s hope the next one will be more encouraging,” I replied, gently pushing him off me and pouring some water into a bowl so I could wash. After I had done so, I invited him to do the same, which he did.
“You have no idea as to how ashamed I am,” he said. He had a good body, strong and lean.
“Don’t worry about it. They say familiarity breeds contempt, so perhaps if you come to be bored, you might go on forever.”
He laughed.
“Bored of you? Never!”
I returned to the bed, and lay there naked. It was quite pleasant, as there was a gentle breeze blowing through the tent and so it was cool and calm in here.
“Every man experiences this occasionally, you know?” I said.
“I haven’t. It was just that I desired you so much, I was almost there as soon as you undressed before me.”
“Well, we can’t hang about here to wait for you to rise to the occasion again. I’d better go and see how Iona is getting on with the new girls.”
“May I accompany you?”
“Sure, but don’t be too familiar, as it’ll give the game away, and screwing a subordinate might get you into trouble.”
He chuckled and redressed, not that he had taken much off.
A few minutes later, we stood by the training arena watching the training. I had dressed in my normal combat fatigues, with no armour. The girls were still at the building stage: building confidence, strength and stamina through hard work and exercise. I noted that there were a lot of spectators from amongst the other legionaries. They were jeering and catcalling, so I decided to select the largest and noisiest with whom to make an example. He was easy to spot. A big man, by Roman standards, so five foot ten inches, but very stocky. His neck must have been the same width as his head. He had shaved his head, as was common amongst the Legions, as it prevented lice and was far easier to maintain.
He was sitting on a bench, with his feet on the rail laughing and joking. There was a group of around seven of them. They weren’t of the Ninth, of that I was certain.
I walked up behind him, simply listening to him jeer. He was calling the girls slit-arses, in relation to their genitalia. I felt the familiar rise of anger, so quelled it. There was a better way.
I lifted him bodily from behind, one hand under his belt and the other holding his collar. I threw him onto his face, over the rail and onto the sand of the arena. He turned, spitting mad and determined to swing at whoever was responsible. He saw me and looked aghast.
“So, noisy little worm, don’t like it when a mere slit-arse gets the better of you. I’m sure your friends will be impressed that you can put your money where your mouth is. I bet you a month’s salary I can get you to submit by the time the Primus Pilus can count to thirty.”
Gaius was standing behind me, still in his full uniform.
“When you’re ready, Primi Ordines,” he said, giving me my official title – Ordinary Centurion.
The man swore and sprang to his feet, displaying rare agility for a man of his bulk.
“You, a centurion?” he said, and then laughed.
At that moment he sprang forward, swinging a large fist to where he judged my face should have been. I stepped in close, grabbed his swinging fist and then used his body and momentum to throw him onto his face again, this time delivering one well-placed kick into his abdomen to wind him. My foot felt the hard muscle of a man who was fit, so it barely winded him.
He was on his feet again in seconds; his eyes narrowed, watching me warily.
“Lucky cow!” he said, but his eyes told me he was playing to his audience.
He looked away, as if to gloat to his friends, so I knew an attack was imminent. Sure enough, he immediately rushed me, attempting to get me into a bear hug. I grabbed him by the tunic and went back, onto the ground, throwing him over my head so he landed with a crunch onto the ground behind me. This time, I rolled onto my feet and delivered a single punch to the solar plexus, which rendered him useless.
I then placed my foot on his neck and started to push.
“Submit?” I said to him.
Unable to speak, he attempted to get my foot off. When he failed, he must have been on the verge of blacking out, so he banged the ground with his arm.
“Fifteen!” shouted Gaius with a huge grin.
“So,” I said to the soldiers who were now jeering their erstwhile comrade. “See what a split-arse can do to this man. Who is he, by the way?”
“Servius Bentus; the champion of the Sixth Legion.”
I looked at the wreck on a man who was coughing and spluttering on the ground behind me.
“That, is your champion?” I said, disparagingly.
The men were clearly uncertain as to how to deal with me. Gaius stepped forward.
“This centurion has recently been enlisted into the Ninth,” he said. “She was a warrior princess from the barbaric north. She attacked the Ninth with an all-female band of warriors and defeated us before finally being overwhelmed by superior numbers. Her fighting prowess and that of her comrades will put you all to shame. Do not underestimate her and her warriors’ abilities. Just thank the gods that they are now on your side. If we hear of any more vulgar remarks about these women, we will use you for active sparing with sharpened blades. If she can defeat your champion in fifteen seconds with no weapons, just think what she could do with a Pilus or sword!”
I reached a hand down to the man on the ground and helped him to his feet.
“How did you do that?” he asked.
I smiled.
“I simply used your advantage against you,” I said.
“Huh?”
“Your weight and strength; I simply took you off-balance and took you down. Once down, you were easy.”
He drew himself to a vague semblance of attention.
“I apologise for my offensive remarks, ma’am. It will not happen again.”
“No, Servius, it won’t.”
I turned to go when he spoke again.
“Ma’am?”
I turned back.
“I respectfully request transfer to your unit. Perhaps I can assist in the training and effectiveness of your recruits, ma’am.”
“You mean you want to learn my tricks?”
He grinned.
“It crossed
my mind, ma’am.”
“Put it in writing through your command.”
I then turned and walked across to where Iona and the grinning recruits stood.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“Good, if it wasn’t for the spectators.”
“I think you will find they won’t be a problem anymore.”
Iona smiled.
“Thanks.”
I felt a pang of guilt. She was a spectacularly attractive woman. However, as I glanced at Gaius, it dawned on me that, as a woman at least, I had a specific default. It had been interesting, but I couldn’t get away from my in-built feelings. Whether they were imprinted on me by my socialisation or whether I was naturally that way inclined, I had no way of knowing.
Chapter Ten
I became aware that someone was shaking me. I awoke instantly, to see Gaius at my bedside.
“The Port patrol has sent word. Glax’s ship sailed an hour ago.”
“He wasn’t due to sail until tomorrow, wasn’t he?”
Gaius shrugged.
“The tides up that damn river are difficult. I think he took advantage of a high tide. Anyway, they managed to get on board to check the manifest against the cargo.”
“How?”
“They used the reason we gave them; stolen military stores. He just had a cargo of timber and about fifty slaves.”
“Where are they?”
“Who?”
“The patrol.”
“Outside.”
“Damn it, I haven’t got the man’s uniform here. Ask them what the timber looked like, and whether all the slaves were big men, and young.”
To give him his due he simply grunted and disappeared. While he was gone, I dressed, splashing some water over my face. Not having to shave was a definite advantage, but then I had that bloody mane of hair with which to contend. I tied it back and slipped into my clothes.
By the time I emerged, Gaius was on his way back.
“They said the timber was not what they expected; just like sheaves of two metre poles bound together. Apparently they use them for thatch support in the east.”
