There was a knock at the door, and without waiting for a response, Portillus opened it and entered the office. A quick frown flitted across his face as he saw the wine, and then glanced to the surviving jars in the corner of the room. Macro realised that he had hoped to have them for himself now that the previous commander had no earthly use for such luxuries.
‘Ahem, you sent for me, sir. ‘ Yes. Shut the door. ‘ Once the door was closed and Portillus was standing at ease in front of the desk, Macro cleared his throat and began. ‘This is not a good cohort, Centurion, as I am sure you know. The organisation is slack, the men are generally second-rate and the officers are worse.
However,’ he paused, ‘that is about to change. And since you are my second in command, you are going to help make that change. Is that clear?’
Portillus nodded doubtfully ‘I can’t hear you, Centurion.’ ‘Yes, sir. It is clear.’ ‘Good.’ Macro tapped the wax tablets. ‘I want the best eighty men in the cohort to form a fighting century.They are to have the best of the kit, and they are to be commanded by the best officer. Who would you recommend?’
Portillus pursed his lips a moment before he replied. ‘Centurion Milo, sir. He was promoted from the legions a year ago.’
‘Then he shouldn’t have gone soft yet. Fine, Milo it is. He is to choose his standard bearer, optio and clerk as he sees fit.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘As for the rest of the men, they are going to work in the town at first light. They are to leave their kit here in barracks, but keep their swords, and divide into two teams. Half can deal with rescuing people from the ruins and carrying the injured up here to be treated. The others are to forage through the ruins for any supplies offood and wine. You can detail some of them to start carrying water from the nearest streams to start filling the cisterns.’
‘But that’ll take ages, sir.’
‘Well, we’re not going anywhere for the moment, are we, Portillus?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Fine, then those are the orders for tomorrow. Make sure the men are told that there is to be no pilfering, mind. If they encounter any civilian looters they are to put a stop to it. Knock heads together if you must, but don’t go straight in with the blade. The people out there have suffered enough already. One final thing. According to Corvinus we have some tents in stores. They’re old and probably haven’t been used for years, but they might be serviceable for the local people. Have some of the men set them up on the slope facing the acropolis, outside of the town.’
Portillus nodded, and then chewed his lip. ‘Sir?’ ‘What?’
‘Something just occurred to me. Most of the food in Matala was stored down in the warehouses. Near the main market.’
‘So?’
‘The wave destroyed the area, and carried away most of the debris when it receded. What’s left will have been ruined. The only other food will be what was in the houses when the earthquake struck. That won’t amount to much, sir.’
‘Hmm, you have a point.’ Macro sat back and stroked his jaw. ‘So we’ll find what we can and then look for other sources of food. Any estates near to the port?’
Portillus thought for a moment. ‘The nearest one is further along the coast, owned by Senator Canlius. It produces olive oil and grain.’ ‘That’s good for a start then. I’ll send some men with wagons. They can take what we need and let the landowner bill us when word gets back to him in Rome.’ ‘Senator Canlius won’t like that, sir.’ ‘Probably not.’ Macro sniffed. ‘But it won’t be my problem by then, so I don’t care. We have to ensure a good supply of food so our men and the people don’t starve while we sort things out.’
‘Let’s hope we can, sir.’
‘Oh, we will.’ Macro smiled. ‘I won’t stand for anything else. N o w then, that’s all for now, Portillus. I’ll have the clerks draw up the assignments for each unit. They’ll be with you and the other officers once they are ready. As soon as the sun rises I want the Twelfth Hispania to get to work.’
There was another knock at the door. ‘Come!’ The door opened and an auxiliary entered the room and saluted.
‘Patrol’s returning from the bay, sir.’ ‘Have they got the crew and passengers with them?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Good. Soon as they are through the gates, have the men sent to the barracks. Spread them around. Once they’re there, you can tell ‘em they have just been inducted into the cohort and normal military discipline applies. Better explain what that means to them, eh?’
The auxiliary grinned. Yes, sir.’ ‘Have the women and children brought to the basilica. They can kip down in the admin hall. Then ask the senator’s daughter if she would be kind enough to join me.’
‘Yes, sir.’The auxiliary saluted and left the room.
Centurion Portillus raised an eyebrow. ‘Sempronius’s daughter? She’s landed herself right in the middle of it. I doubt that the kid of a purple-striper is going to like the accommodation.’
Macro thought back to the desperate time when he had first encountered Julia during the siege of the citadel in Palmyra. She had taken her chances along with the rest of the defenders and had required no more than the meagre rations provided to the others, while devoting herself to the care of the wounded and the dying.
Julia was no whining member of the pampered aristocracy. She had proved her worth.
‘She’ll cope,’ Macro replied. ‘She’s no kid. Julia Sempronia is tough enough. Besides, she has no choice.’
Portillus puffed out his cheeks. ‘I’d sooner you tell her that than me, sir. Perhaps I’d better be offthen. Duties to attend to and all that.’ ‘Yes, get on with it,’ Macro responded gruffly. ‘Bear in mind what I said. There’ll be no slacking in this cohort from now on, and that applies to officers as much as the men.’ ‘I understand, sir.’ Portillus bowed his head and hurried from the room. For a moment Macro was alone, and he looked at his cup of wine for an instant before greedily raising it to his lips and draining it.
‘Ahhh! Needed that.’ He wiped a dribble of wine from his chin and eased himself back in the chair with a gratified smile. His entire body ached with the exertions of the previous day and night, and his eyes were sore. He closed them for a moment, relishing the soothing comfort of a brief instant of relaxation. The wine still tingled in his throat and felt warm in his stomach as he folded his fingers across his belly.
‘Just rest a moment,’ he told himself drowsily. ‘Just a moment . . .’ ‘Am I disturbing you?’ ‘W-w-what?’ Macro struggled up in the seat and blinked his eyes open. Julia was standing in the threshold of the office grinning at him.
‘It’s just that you were snoring so loudly’
‘Snoring?’ Macro shook his head guiltily. ‘Bollocks. I was just mumbling to myself.’
‘With your eyes closed.’
Macro frowned at her. ‘I can do two things at once, you know, miss.’
‘I’m sorry, Macro. I meant no offence. You must be exhausted after all that we’ve been through. As are we all.’
‘Where are my bloody manners?’ Macro muttered to himself as he jumped to his feet and hurried to pull a spare chair over towards the table. He patted the seat. ‘There you are, Miss Julia. Sit you down.’ ‘Thank you.’ She let out a deep sigh. ‘So, then, where is my father and Cato?’ ‘Gone, miss.’ ‘Gone?’ ‘To Gortyna. Soon as we got here we heard that the governor, his staff and senior officers were caught up in the earthquake. Killed most of ‘em outright. Your father said he had to take charge ofthings at once. He and Cato took two of the horses from the stables and left as soon as they could.’
‘Typical,’Julia said with a trace ofbitterness. ‘No last word for me, then?’
‘Er, not as such, no.’ ‘And Cato?’ ‘Oh, he said to be sure to send you his love and that I was to take care of you until he got back.’ Julia stared at Macro and shook her head. ‘You’re a poor liar Macro. Better leave that sort of thing to people who are trained for it, like my father.’
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br /> ‘If you say so.’ Julia looked round the office and then through the window towards the hillside opposite the acropolis. A handful of fires had already been lit and tiny figures clustered about the glow of the flames. ‘I could hardly believe what I saw on the way up here,’ she said quietly. ‘I thought we had had it bad on the ship. But this?’
‘We did have it bad on the ship, miss. We’re lucky to be here. But you’re right, it must have been terrifying when it struck the port.
Portillus told me there was a bloody great roar and a rumbling sound, and then the buildings started to shake and collapse, the weakest and oldest ones first. Naturally, that was where the poorest people in Matala were packed in. Thousands of them are buried under the ruins. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Poor souls who were left alive must have thought it was all over.’ Macro shrugged. ‘Until the wave hit the port, and swept up through the gorge some distance, destroying everything and everyone in its path. Portillus reckons that as many again were drowned as had died in the earthquake.’
Julia stared at him for a moment, then she shook her head and muttered, ‘Dear gods . . .What can they have done to deserve this?’
‘Who knows the will of the gods?’ Macro yawned. ‘But whatever the people of Crete have done to piss them off, they’ve paid a high price.’
Julia glanced out through the window, her mind still struggling to take in the scale of the destruction she had seen on the way up from the ship. It was impossible to imagine that many more towns and cities had shared the fate ofMatala. Suddenly she froze.’Do you think it’s over? Do you think it could happen again?’
‘I’ve no idea, miss. I’m just a soldier, not a soothsayer.’ Macro leaned forward and tried to sound reassuring as he continued. ‘There’s been no more tremors since we arrived.We can only pray to the gods to spare us any more suffering.’
‘Yes, there is that. Ifyou really think prayers can help.’ ‘Well, they can’t hurt.’ ‘I suppose not.’Julia was quiet for a moment before she fixed her gaze on Macro again. ‘Do you think they’re safe out there? My father, and Cato?’
‘Don’t see why not. They have their swords, and people have too much on their minds already without causing them any trouble. They’ll be fine, miss. Cato’s a tough lad. He’ll see that your father gets through to Gortyna, and then they can start sorting things out. Trust me, Cato knows what he’s doing. They’ll be all right.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
What the hell did we think we were doing?’ Cato growled through clenched teeth as the senator tied his neck cloth tightly about the wound. ‘We should have waited until light before setting off.’ ‘Shhh!’ Sempronius glanced nervously at the surrounding trees.
‘They might have followed us.’ ‘I doubt it. We must have covered at least two miles before the horse gave out.’ Cato paused as another burning spasm shot through his leg.When it had passed he let out a deep breath and continued. ‘I’m sure they’d have given up the chase long before then.’
‘Let’s hope so.’ Sempronius tied off the knot and checked the makeshift dressing to ensure it would not slip. ‘There. That should do it. It’s my fault, Cato. I should have slowed the pace once we were clear. It was madness to keep galloping along the road in the dark like that. It’s a miracle your horse didn’t fall earlier on, or mine.’
‘Well, we’ve only got the one now’ Cato smiled grimly. ‘So no question of galloping anywhere.’
They had abandoned Cato’s wounded horse back on the road where it had collapsed, bloody froth in its mouth and nostrils. Sempronius had hauled Cato up behind him and they had continued another mile before taking a narrow track off into a grove of pine trees and then stopping to tend to Cato’s wound. The prong had passed through the muscle at the back of his leg without striking bone, or severing any major blood vessels. The wound was bleeding freely, but despite the pain, Cato found that he could still bear weight on his leg. He walked a few paces to the spot where he slumped down and let Sempronius examine and dress the wound as best he could in the dim light cast by a crescent moon and the stars.
Sempronius eased himself back and sat on the ground clasping his hands together in his lap. ‘What do you think we should do now?’ ‘I don’t fancy blundering into any more gangs of renegade slaves. Best to wait until first light when we can see the way ahead and avoid any trouble.’ ‘Yes, you’re right.’ Sempronius turned his head to look back in the direction of the road. ‘Are you sure they were slaves?’ ‘I think so. They were all in rags, and we were near that estate where we saw . . .’ Cato flinched at the memory and cleared his throat noisily. ‘They must have gone to the road looking for easy pickings. We were lucky to get away. If those slaves, and what we saw back there, are typical of what is happening elsewhere on the island then we’ve got more of a problem than I thought.’ ‘How so?’
‘What ifwe find ourselves fighting a slave revolt?’
‘A revolt? I don’t think so. There’s bound to be some temporary disorder. It’s only natural that they would take advantage of the situation to turn on their overseers. Once they’ve drunk themselves insensible and woken up with a hangover, I’d be willing to bet they’d have no idea what they want to do next. Some might run off into the hills to try and join the brigands, but the rest will drift around the estate until someone comes along and sorts them out.’
‘You think so?’ Cato said doubtfully. ‘I think you underestimate the danger, sir.’
‘They’re only slaves, my boy. Chain-gang slaves – the lowest of the low, little better than beasts. Trust me, they have no experience of making their own decisions. Without overseers to lead them, they won’t have a clue what to do about the situation.’
‘I hope you’re right. But what if they did find a leader amongst their ranks? What then?’
‘They won’t. I’ve been on enough estates in my time to know how they operate. Anyone showing an ounce of spirit or independence is either sold off to a gladiator school, or broken and punished as an example to the rest. We’ll have them back in hand before long. Once the ringleaders responsible for that sickening display we witnessed have been identified and rounded up, they’ll be crucified and their bodies left to rot. I think that’ll teach the rest a lesson they won’t forget for a long time.’
Cato nodded.Yet he still felt uneasy. He had no idea quite how many slaves there were on the island. If they did manage to organise, and find a leader, then they would pose a grave danger to Roman interests in Crete. Nor were slaves the only concern. There were brigands up in the hills, criminals, runaway slaves and outcasts, who would be sure to exploit the chaos. If the slaves and the brigands made common cause, then nothing short ofa major campaign would ensure that the island remained part of the empire.
He shifted and shuffled back to prop himself up against the stump of a felled tree. ‘I think we should get some rest now, sir. We’ve been on the go for the best part oftwo days without sleep. I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you when it’s time for your turn.’
‘Fair enough, but make sure that you do. I can’t afford to have you too tired to offer me help when we reach Gortyna.’
‘I’ll wake you, sir. On my word.’
‘Very well.’ Sempronius cast his eyes about the ground and then picked a spot by the next tree, where there was a soft mound of pine needles. He pulled his cloak around him and settled down, resting his head on a root. After a while, his breathing became steady and deep until he began to snore.
Cato leaned his head back and stared up at the heavens. It was a clear night, and stars and moon gleamed against a pitch-black backdrop.The view helped to calm his troubled mind for a moment and he wished that Julia was with him, nestled into the crook of his arm, her hair brushing softly against his chin. For a moment he recalled the aroma of her favourite scent and smiled faintly. Then a distant light caught his attention and he lowered his gaze and stared out across the dark landscape. A fire was flaring up on the plain, some
miles away, and as he watched the flames spread quickly until a whole building was engulfed. He watched for a while longer, with a growing sense of foreboding in his heart.
Senator Sempronius took over and woke Cato just before dawn. Cato stirred, and found that he lay under the senator’s cloak. He nodded towards it and muttered his thanks.
‘You needed it more than me.’ Sempronius smiled. ‘It was easy enough to walk up and down to stay warm. Actually, it reminded me of my days as a junior tribune in the Ninth Legion on the Rhine. Not much comfort there, I can tell you. But I forget, you were stationed on the same frontier, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, sir. Once you’ve spent one winter there you never want to experience another. Cold as Hades.’
‘Yes, I remember.’ Sempronius shivered, and then offered Cato his hand. ‘Come, we have to go.’
Cato groaned as he rose to his feet. His injured leg felt stiff and immediately began to throb as he put weight on it.
Sempronius regarded him anxiously. ‘Bad?’
‘I’ve had worse. As long as I get the wound cleaned and rested for a few days I’ll be fine.’
‘Rest is something that will be in short supply, I fear.’
He clambered up on to the horse’s back and then leaned down to help Cato up. The horse staggered a little as it adjusted to the additional weight. Once Cato had tucked an arm around his waist, Sempronius clicked his tongue and walked the horse back down the track towards the road. As they emerged from the pine trees, Cato glanced in the direction of the fire he had seen the previous night, but there was nothing more than a blackened shell remaining. Several other burned-out buildings dotted the surrounding landscape, and a column of distant figures picked its way across a field. Whether they were slaves or civilians, Cato could not tell. The road ahead of them was clear, and Sempronius turned the horse towards Gortyna once again and proceeded at a steady trot.
They sighted several more bands of people as the sun rose and bathed the province in a warm glow. Along the road they also encountered a few more survivors picking over the remains of their property as they looked for valuables. Some just sat and stared vacantly as the horse rode by, while others held out their hands and begged for food. Sempronius did his best to ignore them as he stared ahead and kicked his heels in to move on as swiftly as possible. Now and again they came across bodies bearing sword and knife wounds, adding yet more death to the number of those killed by the earthquake. As the morning wore on, Cato wondered if there was anything that the senator and he could do to help restore order to the province in the face of such destruction and loss of life. The task looked quite hopeless.
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