Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 02] The Horsewarriors

by Griff Hosker

  As Flavius sat down with a nodded thank you to Decius, Rufius finally found his voice flashing an irritated look at Decius he said, “Well, er prefect but why have you brought all these people into the fort in the middle of the night and left the security of their homes?”

  Flavius beckoned Decius and Rufius forward and lowered his voice. “Stanwyck has fallen to rebel Brigante. “ He paused and looked significantly at Decius, “and the Princesses Lenta and Macha murdered along with Decurion Princeps Marcus’ son.”

  “The bastards!” He took Flavius hand, “Marcus isn’t here at the moment he’s out with the men.”

  “Good I did not relish giving him the news;” he shook his head sadly; “however this just delays the inevitable. For I will have to tell him.”

  Rufius stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Thank you prefect. This puts a different slant on things.” He turned to Decius. “Have the men stand to and prepare turmae one and two for a scouting patrol. Er, decurion,“ ,he said to his son, Fabius, “put these people somewhere out of the way and get them some food and drink. Officers call in an hour.”

  Decius found Gaius, Drusus and Lentius in their quarters donning armour. “You heard?”

  Gaius nodded dumbly. “I can’t believe it. Who would kill… and his child.”

  “He will need our help my friends if he is to survive this.”

  “Aye especially on top of losing the Decurion Princeps promotion. Talk about kicking a man when he is down.” Just then Fabius Demetrius walked into the room. “And you!” He jabbed a finger in the youth’s direction. “Your dad might be the prefect but don’t you ever question me again or threaten me. Is that clear?” The young decurion paled and nodded. Decius waved his arm around the room. “These men are the experienced backbone of this ala when the shit starts to fall, and I think it has started, you watch us or some Brigante will be wearing what passes for your bollocks as a love token.”

  As the sun came up the officers all met. Flavius was sat next to the prefect and Drusus was pleased to see that the sons of the prefect were sat with their fellow decurions.

  “Good now that we are all here I can apprise you of the situation. Flavius Bellatoris has told us of the report from the refugees of slaughter at Stanwyck. This however is unproven.” The old prefect started to rise in his seat.”However this can be easily proven. I will send two turmae to the fort and if the massacre is true then I will send a report to the Governor.” The senior decurions all looked aghast at each other. If the Brigante had revolted then they needed the legion for they were the only auxiliary unit north of Eboracum. “Decius Flavius and Julius Demetrius take your turmae to Stanwyck. You I believe know the princesses?”

  “Yes sir!” barked Decius.

  “This is why I am sending you. Ask to see them. As we are already two turmae down we cannot afford to lose a single man so be careful.” He turned to the other decurions. “We cannot be tripping over these barbarians all the time; build them a stockade over there while we await the report.” There was silence. “Now!” The decurions sped into action. When they had left the prefect turned to Flavius. “I did not mean to doubt your word but we only have the word of two frightened children; for all we know they may have fled an irate father.”

  “In your position I would have done the same however prefect I would be careful about using the term barbarian in front of the auxiliaries. Many of us were born outside of Rome. These men are all that stands between the Brigante and disaster.”

  Rufius looked coldly at the crippled veteran. “I thank you for your advice and as with all advice it can be taken or,” he emphasised the word,” it can be ignored. Now if you will excuse me I have much to do.”

  Decius rode at the head of the eighty two men as they left Morbium. He signalled to Gaelwyn and the wiry warrior took off on his pony. The journey was a short one and Decius knew every uncia of the way. They were travelling light for, if the fortress was taken, they would need to return with all haste to the isolated fort on the north side of the river. When they were out of sight of the fort Decius halted the men. He turned in and shouted, “Decurion! To the front.” The older men of the turma grinned. They knew how blunt Decius Flavius could be.

  Julius Demetrius had the same sulky look of his brother and he joined Decius reluctantly. “I should be with my men.”

  Decius flashed him a hard stare but ignored the comment. “How long have you served in the auxiliary?” He raised his arm and the column moved off. All the time they rode he scanned both sides of the undulating landscape.

  This question non-plussed the young patrician. “Since I arrived with my f… with the prefect.”

  Decius snorted in derision. “As I thought, you haven’t served in the auxiliary and the er, prefect has appointed you as decurion. Look back at those men decurion.” Julius turned to view the faces of stone. “Some of those men have served in this unit for ten years. Many of them have fought in more battles than years in your young life. Even the recruits have had more training than you. Can you use a sword?”

  The young man smiled a superior smile. “Yes my father hired a famous gladiator to train my brother and I we are good swordsmen.”

  “Good eh? How many times have you used your sword while on a horse?”

  “On a horse?”

  “Yes we are the cavalry we do use actual horses.” There was a sudden eruption of laughter from behind and Demetrius coloured. “I will personally castrate the next man who laughs.” He lowered his voice. “Without being too disrespectful decurion at the moment you are a liability and the men know it. You might turn out to be a good officer. For their sakes,” he gestured back with his thumb, “I hope so but until we have seen a bit of action I want you to do everything I say and then all of us will live. Is that clear?”

  The look on the decurion’s face suggested that he might be going to argue but one look at the older man’s face dissuaded him. He nodded. “Good now rejoin your men and listen carefully for my orders. I don’t give them twice.”

  As they approached Isurium Brigantium they noticed the burning buildings. They looked as though someone had charged through and fired them; expecting resistance for the damage was not as bad as it might have been. Speaking to no-one in particular Decius said, “Well it looks like they were right.”

  Gaelwyn appeared at his side from a stand of alder trees. “It is a good job that I am not a Brigante rebel or you would be dead.”

  “Which is why we have you out to make sure they don’t surprise us you cocky little bastard. Well?”

  “There are no men between here and the fortress but the walls are all manned.”

  “What do you think? Has it been taken?”

  Gaelwyn shrugged. “It is hard to tell. There are more men than there were but other than that… We will have to get a little closer.” There was a wicked glint in the scout’s eye.

  “You love this don’t you? But you are right.” He turned to his men. “Column of fours. We are going nice and steady. Keep your eyes open for the enemy and your ears open for my commands you four get your bows ready. The rest of you have a javelin ready and stow your cloaks.” He looked pointedly at Julius who had not moved. “All of you.”

  The recruit behind Julius Demetrius asked the older man next to him, “Why stow the cloaks?”

  “Simple son you need your arms free, you won’t be cold if we start fighting and you also stick the cloak in front of you.” The looked non-plussed. “Gives a little more protection to your wedding tackle.”He grinned at the young man, “Although in your case you’d only need a neck cloth.”

  Julius followed suit and then loosened his sword in his scabbard. The decurion’s words about his lack of experience had hit home. He could fight against a man on foot but for how long? He had seen the recruits training and they spent far longer than he and his brother had. He also realised that he had never fought on a horse either.

  The older soldier behind him almost read his thoughts for he said to the recruit next to
him. “When we have loosed the javelins be careful with that spatha it’s long, the last thing you want is to slice half your horse’s head off. Remember what the training decurion drilled into you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Julius murmured a whispered, “Thanks”, under his breath. If he survived the day he would have to learn how to be a real cavalryman.

  The stronghold rose above them in layers of ramparts and ditches. Decius could see the armed men on the top. The old soldier felt uneasy. Something was not right. He had his orders however and he had to find out if the fort had fallen. He turned to the four men with the bows behind him.”You four come with me. Decurion!” Julius rode forward. “I am taking these four and this waste of skin,“ he gestured at the grinning Gaelwyn who took the banter in good part, “a little closer. I am going to try to speak to them. If the fort has been taken I will find out. Should anything happen to me you are in command. Your orders will be quite simple. Get back to Morbium and tell the prefect.”

  “Should we not come for you?”

  “If we can get out we will but you do not do anything other than tell the prefect. Got it?”

  “Got it decurion.”

  “Good lad we might make a cavalryman out of you yet. Right let’s go.” The six of them rode in an oblique line towards the gate. Decius wanted to get the best picture he could. “Notch your arrows.” He turned to Gaelwyn, “Are you getting the same feeling as me?”

  “Yes decurion the men still don’t look right; there are a lot of them and they are not smiling. They should be relaxed and they are not opening the gate.”

  “I had noticed that.” He halted about sixty paces from the gate. Just about in bow range although those inside the fort would have more range. “Ho! Open the gates.” The gates slowly started to open and Decius wondered if he had been wrong. Suddenly a phalanx of mailed horsemen raced towards them. “Loose! Treacherous bastards.” The four troopers let fly with their arrows and as Gaelwyn and Decius turned to flee he was gratified to see an empty saddle and a fallen horse. He looked up to see that the decurion had brought twenty men forward in a line and they were preparing to shoot their arrows. “Dozy bastard! I told him what to do!”

  The pursuing horsemen were still fifty paces behind but the Romans were now pulling away on their superior mounts. He watched with relief as the arrows flew over their head and he took the opportunity to shout, “Retreat! Now!”

  Fortunately the pursuers were no archers and relied on spear and sword. The Romans found themselves out of sight by the time they reached Isurium. Decius halted the column and rode next to an elated Julius. “Thanks for the help decurion but next time just obey your bloody orders!”

  The young man grinned, “Yes sir. I will do.”

  Shaking his head Decius turned to make sure that they had not lost a man. The stark thought suddenly sank in if Stanwyck had fallen then perhaps the young couple had been right and the princesses were dead. He had tried to hope for the best and even now he perversely hoped that they were part of this rebellion for if they were dead then someone would have to tell Marcus and while Decius would face a thousand enemies he could not be the one to bring that news to his friend.

  By the time they reached Morbium they saw the progress made on the refugee camp. By the same token their rapid return showed all in the fort that the news was indeed true. The prefect summoned the two decurions into his office. “Well?”

  “Looks like the news was true. We found Isurium burning and they attacked us when we asked them to open the gates.”

  “Casualties?”

  “None sir. Decurion Demetrius discouraged them with a volley of arrows.” He paused, “The lad did well on his first patrol.”

  The patrician was clearly pleased. “Well done. You have both done well. Perhaps I was wrong about you Decius Flavius perhaps you are not as insubordinate as I thought you were.”

  “Oh no sir you are quite right I am an insubordinate cuss. But I do know how to kill my enemies.”

  Julius grinned and then quickly covered his smile as he saw the flash of anger on his father’s face. “Right. Officer’s call now.”

  Once again Flavius Bellatoris sat in on the meeting although the expression on the face of the Roman patrician showed the distaste he felt for the former barbarian. “My initial thought was to take the ala, retake the fortress and crucify the insurgents,” he saw the looks exchanged, “however I am, as you know new to the area and I have not been to this old fort.”

  They looked to Decius to speak but he looked at Drusus. “I was there with Decurion Marcus and Decurion Princeps Ulpius Felix when we rescued the Queen and I was there again when we rescued the treasure.” The new decurions, including Rufius’ sons began murmuring at this but he rapped his hand against the table and they stopped. “If there are few defenders and if they have not improved the defences then I believe that it could be taken but at some cost.”

  Before the prefect could speak Flavius spoke. “However they have improved the defences.” They looked at him questioningly. “I had to buy some leather and some tools and I took the opportunity to visit with Princess Macha and Lenta. They have deepened the ditches, raised the ramparts and cleared the woods back.”

  “Yes sir “interjected Decius, “I reckon that it is about two hundred paces further back. Makes you wonder if they have had this planned for some time eh?”

  “We have no time for speculation. Only facts. The decurion mentioned the defences but what do we know of the defenders?”

  “The walls seemed to be well manned to me.”

  “Yes but did you see the other walls, not just the side from which you approached?”

  “No sir but Gaelwyn, the scout, said that the walls were all manned and they didn’t see him.”

  “How many then?” They all looked at each other reluctant to be the one to make a statement which could not be proved. “Come on someone take a guess.”

  Before Decius could speak a shrill voice piped up. “From the numbers facing us I would say there had to be four hundred men on the wall.” Julius looked to Decius who nodded approvingly. “That would give a total on the walls of about sixteen hundred and then,“ he went on, “there were more than a hundred who chased after us. If we assume some other reserves then that would make almost two thousand.”

  “You would be outnumbered by three to one.” Flavius stated the obvious for had a decurion said so it would have sounded like cowardice.

  “An assault by cavalry appears out of the question.”

  “The other thing sir is that we don’t know how many others are close to hand. I remember when we fought Venutius; these buggers love the ambush. It’s how they nearly caught the Queen the first time.”

  “And how he nearly beat the legions at Brocavum,” added Flavius.

  “A good point. Well much as I hate to send bad news to the Governor I will have to.” He turned to Drusus.”Detail four men to ride to Eboracum and then Lindum. I will write a report for the Governor. The rest of you had better get the refugee camp built.” He looked at the decurions, “Thank you for your honesty.”

  Stanwyck

  Aed was really angry with the commander of his bodyguard. “I wanted the Romans inside the walls where we could have slaughtered them not running back to their fort with news of our rebellion.”

  “They were too wary. We would have caught them but for those archers.”

  “You would have caught them had you ridden without mail! How did they become wary and who warned the Romans at Isurium?”

  “Someone must have escaped.”

  “Obviously, the question is did they see the princesses being killed?”

  “Does it make a difference?”

  “Of course it does. If they think Lenta and Macha are involved in this then that will determine their response.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But there is nought we can do about that now. King Maeve will have to make a judgement when he arrives. How far away is he?”

  “A day’s m
arch.”

  “And the Novantae are a day further behind. With the troops we have here and those arriving we will have thirty thousand men; more than enough to take on a legion and one cavalry unit.”

  “Let us rid ourselves of the cavalry now. We outnumber them.”

  “Yes fool and they are behind their walls and the river. How do you think we will manage that? You are a better warrior than thinker Ragnar, stick to fighting and the king and I will plan the strategy.”

  Morbium

  Two days later the refugee camp had been finished and they now awaited the return of Marcus and the two turmae. It was even more imperative that they augment the meagre defenders but even Decius was worried that the decurion was well overdue. The messengers would have reached Eboracum the previous day and now would be almost at Lindum. Quintus Cerialis would then take at least a week to get to Eboracum and a further two days to arrive at Morbium. They all knew that it would be ten days before they would have relief, at the earliest.

  Julius had changed since the patrol with Decius unlike his elder brother Fabius who still strode around the fort as though the other decurions were animal droppings fouling his world. He was assisting Decius to clear back some of the undergrowth near to the bridge and he asked the question which had been on his mind for some time. “Decurion when you and the other decurions talk about Marcus I get the impression that you are worried about his reaction to the killings at Stanwyck.”

  “That’s right. You don’t know do you? Marcus and the Princess Macha they were, well they were together.”

  “Married?”

  “Well not formerly. The high ups frown on decurions getting married but yeah I suppose they were what you might call man and wife and they had a son, little Ulpius.”

  “I can see why he would be upset. Thank you for telling me.”

  “No you were right to ask. The rest of us all know and we assume everyone does. I guess I will have to tell the prefect.”