Hibernia (Veteran of Rome Book 2)

by William Kelso

  "Yes," Corbulo nodded angrily, "I have the Governor's letters, all five of them. Letters that talk openly about rebellion and assassinating the Emperor. But do you think that I am so stupid as to carry them around on me?" Corbulo took a step forwards and pointed an angry finger at Agricola. "If anything happens to me or Marcus and we do not show up within the next ten days a very good friend of mine has instructions to hand the letters personally to the Procurator. That's when the shit really starts to fly Sir. So you dare lay a finger on me and Marcus and the Governor and his pals are not going to be very pleased with you."

  Agricola was staring at Corbulo. Then he frowned.

  "Five letters you say," Agricola muttered, "Five not six? Are you sure? Six letters were stolen from the Governor's palace."

  Corbulo lowered his finger.

  "Well fuck me," Corbulo muttered as the realisation finally dawned. He looked up at Agricola, his eyes sparkling.

  "You are in on the plot against the Emperor," Corbulo gasped, "You wrote the sixth letter didn't you? That's why you are so desperate to get it back. That's why you have returned to Britannia. You are planning to join the rebellion against Domitian."

  Agricola did not reply but as he stared at Corbulo a little smile appeared on his face.

  "I remember that you were always a most loyal soldier," Agricola said. "Even when all your comrades were in open mutiny you did not join them. I wonder if you are still that same man Corbulo?"

  Corbulo spat onto the ground. Then he looked up at Agricola.

  "I am no longer a soldier," he replied. "I have a wife, a daughter, Marcus here has become a father." Corbulo paused and studied Agricola for a moment. "But despite being a prick you always treated me fairly and I can't say that I ever served a better general than you Sir. So now you and I are going to make an agreement. I will give you the five letters and I will promise you, on my honour as a veteran of the Twentieth that I will not reveal a word about your plot. In exchange you will speak with the Governor and he will agree to release any remaining Christian prisoners he still has in his jails and he will abandon the search for the children who I brought out of Londinium. Those children deserve to be left in peace. They have suffered enough. They are not to be touched, understood Sir?"

  Agricola raised his eyebrows and glanced in the direction of Luguvalium.

  "The Governor will also agree to pay a sum of one thousand Denarii to each child as compensation for the murder of their parents and families," Marcus interrupted.

  Surprised Corbulo turned to look at Marcus. His son was staring at Agricola with a fierceness and anger that Corbulo had never seen before.

  Agricola seemed to be considering the deal. Then abruptly he nodded.

  "It seems fair," he said, "I shall speak with the Governor. Lucullus is at Deva over seeing the preparations for his Hibernian adventure." Agricola paused and suddenly his face darkened.

  "So you are sure that you only have five letters?" he growled. "You wouldn't be lying to me would you now Corbulo?"

  Corbulo shook his head. "I am telling you the truth," he replied.

  "So who has the sixth letter, the one I wrote to Lucullus?" Agricola barked angrily.

  Corbulo looked down at his feet. Then a little colour shot into his cheeks as it all began to make sense. He looked up sharply. Should he tell Agricola? His old generals life was at stake after all if the Procurator got hold of that letter. Suddenly Corbulo was torn between two competing loyalties. He rubbed his eyes and sighed wearily.

  "Do you remember a Centurion in the Twentieth called Quintus?" he said.

  Agricola nodded. "I remember him, he was a good officer."

  "Quintus is a good friend of mine," Corbulo said. "and several weeks ago I discovered that he'd become a Christian. The Governor's men were out looking for him and I understand why now. The Christian community in Londinium was very small. They must have all known each other. Quintus has your letter. The Christian druid, Alexander, the one who stole the letters in the first place, he must have given his daughter the five letters for safekeeping and given yours to Quintus. Don't ask me why."

  "Where is he?" Agricola said quickly.

  Corbulo blew the air from his cheeks and turned to look to the west.

  "I heard he fled to Hibernia," he replied. "Probably because possessing your letter made it too dangerous for him to remain in Londinium. He would be a dead man if he had stayed."

  Agricola turned to look west and for a moment he said nothing. Then slowly he turned to Corbulo.

  "You will meet me at Deva in ten days," he said angrily, "and bring the letters or else you too are a dead man. I want those damned letters."

  Then without waiting for an answer he signalled to his men and the riders cantered away towards the bridge. Corbulo watched them go. Then when the last of the riders had vanished he glanced towards Marcus. The young man was stroking his chin tensely.

  "Well that didn't work out too bad," Corbulo said trying to sound cheerful.

  "The Governor will never agree;" Marcus murmured, "He will kill you before he concludes an agreement."

  "Well we shall see," Corbulo replied cheerfully fumbling for something inside his tunic. "Here, hold these for a moment will you," he said handing Marcus five tightly rolled scrolls.

  Chapter Eighteen - Corbulo's Dilemma

  Corbulo emerged from the tavern looking tired and grumpy. It was just after dawn and he'd had very little sleep. The timber ramparts of Deva Victrix, the Legionary fort housing the Second Adiutrix, were just down the street from the tavern where he'd managed to get himself a room. But as he made his way southwards towards the bridge across the Dee River, Corbulo gave the fortress scant notice. He had arrived around midnight, tired, aching and dirty after his long journey from Luguvalium and looking forward to a hot meal and a good sleep in a soft bed. Instead what he'd got was the tavern's leftover food and the noise of the whores at work. The noise had gone on for hours.

  He strode on down the path between the huts and thatched round houses of the civilian settlement. Smoke was drifting upwards from a nearby hut and a little way off he could hear the barking of dogs and the crowing of a cock. He glanced at the faces of the civilians and Legionaries going about their daily business, hoping perhaps to catch sight of a familiar face but he recognised no one. Deva however was flourishing. He could see it in the number of new tradesman's shops and factories. It was still dawn but the shops were already open and from their crude advertising hoardings written in appalling Latin he could see what they were advertising. A few Legionaries were haggling with a wool trader. As Corbulo pushed on down the muddy track towards the river a slave girl came out of one of the round houses and dumped a pile of clothes into a washing vat. Close by a boy of around two, watched Corbulo curiously from a doorway and a little further along a man was lying beside the road snoring loudly and covered in his own vomit. Corbulo scratched at the stubble on his cheek. Five years he had spent living in this place and he knew the town like the back of his hand. It was here in their little wooden, turf and thatch house beside the river that Marcus had grown into adulthood. It was here too, soon after he had retired from the Twentieth, that his first wife had killed herself. He lowered his eyes and muttered a little prayer to rid himself of the memory of that horrible day.

  The place he was looking for was close to the river. Just outside the town in a small copse of trees he halted and crouched, turning to look back the way he'd come but he could see no one. The path was empty. Behind him he could hear the murmur of the river and in the trees birds were in full song welcoming back the sun. He peered around him but saw nothing unusual. He seemed to be alone. Satisfied that he had not been followed he rose and picked his way through the trees until he came to a tangle of brambles. He muttered something to himself as he knelt down beside the simple white altar stone. The damn thing was still here. No one though had bothered to look after the stone for it was covered in bird shit and surrounded by weeds. He rubbed some of the dirt away and
quietly read the inscription.

  "To the guardian spirit of the Twentieth Legion, Corbulo fulfilled his vow."

  A little smile appeared on his face. He had paid for and had erected this altar stone the day after he had been discharged from the Legion after twenty five years service. For a moment he stared at the stone. Then quickly he began to dig into the earth. When he had created a shallow hole he slipped his hand into his tunic and brought out the piece of brown leather, which he had wrapped around the five scrolls. Carefully he placed the letters at the bottom of the hole and then laid his money-bag beside them before covering them all with earth. When he was finished he rose and glanced about. He wasn't supposed to meet Agricola until tomorrow but it was wise not to take any chances.

  ***

  The fortress of Deva Victrix stood on top of a stone bluff overlooking a sharp bend in the river. Corbulo took a deep breath as he paused to stare at the Legionary base. The fort had been named after the goddess of the River Dee. It was a good name he thought and it had been placed in a superb location, separating the Brigantes to the north from the Ordovices to the west and at the same time providing access to the sea through the river. The fortress was substantially larger than the other Legionary bases and Agricola had intended it to be the starting point for an invasion of Hibernia, which apart from a few reconnaissance missions, had never happened. The massive timber and earth ramparts, twenty feet wide were protected by a muddy waterlogged, V shaped ditch. A detachment of Legionaries, wearing their distinctive helmets with wide cheek guards and clad in Lorica Segmentata armour, were on guard duty outside the gate. Corbulo approached one of the men and hailed him.

  "Say, friend," Corbulo said cheerfully, "how about you let a veteran from the Twentieth pass. I want to have a wash and you lot have the only decent baths in town."

  The Legionary regarded him coolly.

  "You can have a wash in the river," the soldier replied gesturing for Corbulo to move on.

  Corbulo however refused to budge. After all the days spent in the saddle and on the road he needed a bath, a proper bath.

  "Come on, do a favour for a veteran. I spent five years here," he said showing the man the coin that was stuck to the palm of his hand.

  The Legionary looked away. Then he grasped Corbulo's outstretched hand taking the coin in the process.

  "Allright go," the soldier murmured quickly.

  Corbulo did not hesitate as he slipped through the gateway and into the camp. He had learned long ago that in the army, if you wanted something, all you had to do was bribe the right people. The camp was full of activity and Corbulo immediately noticed that something odd was going on. The Legionaries, some clothed in just their plain white tunics were everywhere, preparing their breakfasts, doing their morning exercises and going about their business but parked along the side of the street was a long column of four wheeled wagons. The column seemed to stretch all the way to the ramparts at the far end of the camp some seven hundred yards away. As Corbulo strode on by he could see the men loading the wagons with supplies and kit.

  "What's going on?" he asked a Legionary who was lifting amphorae into the back of one of the wagons. The man gave Corbulo a hurried glance.

  "Haven't you heard the news," the soldier replied, "We're moving out. The whole Legion is being transferred to the Danube."

  Corbulo grunted in surprise. Of course, he'd forgotten. So the sea captain he'd spoken to in Viroconium had been right. The Second Adiutrix was leaving Britannia.

  "When do you go?" Corbulo asked as the soldier heaved another amphora into the back of the wagon.

  "As soon as the Twentieth arrives to take our place," the man gasped. "They are already on their way south from Caledonia."

  Corbulo moved on up the street in the direction of the Principia. So the Twentieth were abandoning their fortress at Inchtuthil. The camp must have been barely completed. He shook his head in dismay. It had been less than three years since Agricola had destroyed the Caledonian confederation and conquered their lands and now Domitian was giving it all up without a fight. The Emperor was undoing all Agricola's hard work. Corbulo spat into the gutter. No wonder his former commander wanted Domitian removed. The army too would not be happy about this. The strategic move could only embolden the Caledonian tribes.

  On both sides of the street the long and narrow wattle and daub barracks blocks stood in ordered endless rows. Close to the Principia, the Legion's HQ and where the Legate had his quarters and the Legion's eagle was kept, he could see the Legion's granaries and a large and strange looking elliptical building. Corbulo frowned. He had not seen that building before. It looked odd and out of place amongst the familiar and standard army constructions. Corbulo shifted his gaze. Up ahead he could see the baths complex. It was a large square building made of stone and around eighty yards by eighty. A queue of Legionaries had formed at the entrance. Corbulo joined the end and waited patiently for his turn. As he glanced casually at the Legionaries around him he was suddenly overcome by melancholy. He had missed the army life. Grumpily he picked at a tooth. But this was no time for melancholy he thought. He had to plan for the future. He would meet Agricola, do the deal with the Governor, hand over the letters and then head back to Efa and Dylis and after that he would return to Londinium and try and rebuild his stone trading business. All he had to do was to stick to that plan.

  ***

  The Caldarium, the hot room in the baths, was so steamy that Corbulo could not see the far wall. Stark naked he waddled over towards the edge of the pool. He'd left his sword and boots with the slaves at the entrance and he'd paid them the small sum to have all his clothes washed. The slaves had assured him that the job would be done by the time he emerged from the baths. Cautiously he poked a foot into the water. It was hot, very hot. He glanced around him and was surprised to see that there were only three others bathers. The Legionaries it seemed had other things on their mind than spending much time at the baths. The bathers were occupying three of the corners of the bath and did not seem to have noticed him. Corbulo felt the sweat starting to run down his face. He sat down at the edge of the bath and lowered his legs into the water. The heat was fantastic. For a moment, lost in thought, he stared at the fine mosaic that decorated the floor of the pool. Then he cupped his penis in his hand and frowned as he examined his balls. It was still there, a swelling on his scrotum. He had first noticed it at Portus Sentantiorum. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowly slipped into the pool until only his head was above the water. The steam was making him drowsy and he closed his eyes.

  When he opened his eyes again the three bathers had vanished. He turned just as two men slipped into the pool along the far end and Corbulo's eyes widened in shock as he recognised one of them. It was Agricola. The ex Governor of Britannia splashed some water across his own face and leaned back against the edge of the bath as he fixed his eye on Corbulo. At his side his companion, a pale-faced man of around thirty with long flowing black hair examined Corbulo coolly.

  "Good to see you again Corbulo," Agricola muttered, "don't worry no one is going to disturb us. I have a man outside the door. Come it's time to talk."

  Corbulo peered towards the exit but the steam prevented him from seeing more than a few yards. He turned to face Agricola.

  "We were supposed to meet tomorrow," he growled. "I haven't had a decent bath in weeks and now you show up."

  "The Governor has agreed to the deal," Agricola said ignoring Corbulo's retort. "He will receive you tonight at his HQ. You will bring the letters and he will grant you and the Christian children an official pardon."

  "And ten thousand Denarii, or else you get nothing," Corbulo interrupted.

  Agricola's face darkened.

  "We settled on one thousand per child, that's nine thousand," he retorted.

  "Yes, well I have expenses," Corbulo snapped. "It's ten thousand or the letters go straight to the Procurator."

  With an irritated gesture Agricola waved his hand in th
e air. "It's of no concern," he replied, "The Governor agrees to your terms," Agricola paused to mop the sweat from his face. Then he fixed his eye once more upon Corbulo and there was a sudden ruthlessness in his manner.

  "The Governor may have agreed to your little deal but I do not," he said sharply. "The letter that I wrote to the Governor is still missing and I want it back. So here is what is going to happen. You, Corbulo, are going to go to Hibernia to retrieve my letter. I have arranged for you to have a position on the Legate's staff when his battle group sails for Hibernia. Officially you will be an advisor with no authority and no responsibility, exempt from all duties. Your sole task will be to find your friend, Quintus and bring him and my letter back to me here at Deva. I don't care if you bring your friend back dead or alive but I want to see his body and I want my letter, understood?"

  Corbulo was staring at Agricola. For a long moment the Caldarium was silent. Then Corbulo wiped the sweat from his brow.

  "And if I refuse?" he said quietly.

  Agricola's eyes flashed dangerously. "You don't want to do that Corbulo," he hissed. "The 2nd Batavians will be heading south soon. When they get here I suggest that you ask your son Marcus where his woman and newborn son are?"

  Corbulo felt a lump appear in his throat. He stared across the pool at Agricola.

  "What have you done with them?" he said.

  Agricola shook his head.

  "They are under my protection, they are my hostages," he said. "But if you fail in your mission they will die. I will cut their throats myself. I want my letter back Corbulo and I don't care how many men have to die before I get it."

  Corbulo felt a bead of sweat trickling down his neck. Agricola was not bluffing. He could hear it in the man's voice. Agricola was desperate. If the Emperor ever got his hands on that letter then Agricola and his entire family were dead. For a long moment no one spoke.

  "Does Marcus know what has happened to his woman and son?" Corbulo said at last.