Caledonia

by William Kelso

  He turned to look at Marcus but his son had seen their pursuers too. Corbulo caught a glimpse of his son's leg. The piece of cloth tied around his wound was soaked red with blood. He looked up sharply. Marcus had not said a word. He had to be in a lot of pain.

  "Are you alright Marcus?" he cried.

  The young man did not reply but Corbulo caught him giving a short nod.

  The two of them tore on across the open meadows. They passed another corpse whose lifeless eyes were staring up at the sky. A few minutes later Corbulo spotted another war band. The men were crouching in the grass, gathered together in a circle. They rose as they caught sight of the two horsemen. One of the men raised his spear and shouted something at them. Corbulo and Marcus stormed passed without answering.

  "Come on horse, a little further. Come on," Marcus screamed slapping the animal with his hands. Behind them the barking of the dogs was drawing closer. A surge of energy suddenly swept through Corbulo but it didn't lift his spirit. He knew it was a false hope for it would not last. It was just desperation.

  They galloped on and Corbulo glanced up at the mountains on either side of them. There were no places to hide and even if they did find a spot those war dogs would find them and tear the flesh from their bones. Corbulo nudged his horse forwards so that he and Marcus rode side by side. Behind them they could hear their pursuers clearly now. There was no need to look over their shoulder. Corbulo's fingers found their way to the pommel of his sword. They were not going to be taken alive. He knew what the druid would do to them. He had seen what the druids had done to captured Roman soldiers when he and comrades had come across the druidic sacred graves on Mona Insulis, twenty four years ago. There was nothing more terrifying for a Roman than to be captured by a druid. Every soldier had understood that and every soldier had accepted that the druids had to die as a consequence. There could be negotiation between Rome and the druids.

  Their pursuers were drawing closer. It wouldn't be long now. Corbulo could hear their voices now, crying out to their horses, their voices mingling with the slash of whips and the barking of the dogs. He snatched a sideways glance at Marcus. The young man looked grim but determined, his face full of concentration. Did Marcus know how proud of him he was? He felt a tear stir in his eyes. There would be no time to tell him. No time to tell him how proud he was to see his son. He'd had a whole lifetime to tell his son but now when he most wanted to tell him he didn't have the time.

  Their pursuers were only a few hundred paces behind them when Corbulo suddenly saw the watch tower. It stood on a hill half a mile away overlooking the valley. The smoke he'd spotted earlier was rising up from another hill behind it.

  "Marcus," he screamed pointing at the watchtower.

  His son however had already seen the fortification and was veering towards it. The horses somehow sensing the war dogs behind them seemed to find some extra speed. The two of them sped towards the watchtower. It looked Roman but Corbulo could see no one manning the observation platform. Then as they rode up the slope towards the tower Corbulo suddenly caught sight of water on the horizon. It was only a glimpse before his view was obstructed by trees. He turned and looked at Marcus riding beside him and for an insane moment they grinned at each other like two boys who had discovered something they shouldn't have.

  "I told you we would make it," Marcus shouted.

  Corbulo looked away. They weren't going to make it.

  They stormed towards the watch tower. Their pursuers were only a hundred paces behind them and closing fast. Corbulo stared at the watch tower. It was definitely Roman but it looked abandoned. Then he caught sight of two bodies lying half in and out of the V shaped ditch that surrounded the small square tower. He stared at the gateway. The wooden gate was open. Then he saw another corpse propped up against the wooden parapet ontop of the turf wall that surrounded the tower. It may be Roman but the men who had manned the place were all dead.

  "Marcus," he cried, "This is it. We will make our stand here. Get inside and we will try and barricade the gate."

  The watchtower drew closer. Then they were there. Corbulo leapt from his horse as Marcus did the same and the two of them charged through the gate into the small square enclosure. Corbulo tripped over a corpse and went tumbling to the ground. He was back on his feet in an instant.

  "They are our men," Marcus gasped as he stared at one of the corpses.

  Corbulo pulled his sword free and stumbled back towards the front gate and tried to close it but the gate was broken and the wood wouldn't budge. A spear suddenly hammered into the gate inches from his head and Corbulo looked up in shock. One of their pursuers had dismounted and was coming at him wielding a long sword. Another was close behind him.

  "Marcus," Corbulo screamed in alarm, but before he could say anything else Marcus had stepped into the gateway and flung his spear at their attackers. The spear struck the leading man in the abdomen sending him crashing to the ground.

  "The gate won't move," Corbulo shouted as he tried to move it. There was no time. The second man was nearly upon them. With an angry growl Corbulo gave up on the gate and stepped out to face the onrushing man.His assailant came at him with a cry sweeping his axe down towards Corbulo's neck. At the last moment Corbulo twisted away and stabbed the man with his short sword. The man groaned, staggered, dropped his axe and collapsed to the ground.

  A shout behind him made Corbulo whirl round. Marcus had somehow managed to get the gate moving. Corbulo rushed back and grabbed hold of the wood and heaved. From the corner of his eye he saw more figures rushing towards them. Then before he could react a big black dog sprang towards him bowling him backwards onto the ground. The animal was snapping its jaws and barking. Something seemed to snap within Corbulo. He screamed like a mad man and hit the dog with his fist. Then he grabbed the animal by the throat with both hands and sank his teeth into the dogs ear ripping it off in a single movement. The animal yelped and fled. As he rose to his feet Corbulo heard Marcus cry out and with a mighty roar lift the gate and push it into place. It was not a moment too soon. Outside men's curses and shouts mingled with the barking of dogs.

  "Get up on that parapet," Corbulo screamed. He spat blood from his mouth and grabbed hold of a ladder and began to climb up the turf ramparts. Behind him Marcus snatched a sword from a corpse and rushed to another ladder on the other side of the small square enclosure. On the ramparts Corbulo crouched and then risked a quick glance over the side. The remaining ten men and the dogs milled around the watchtower surrounding it. He crouched behind the wooden parapet and stared at the corpse of a fallen auxiliary. The Romans had been killed recently. The body had not been robbed and had not started decaying. He caught his breath and snatched the dead man's spear. Across from him, six yards away on the opposite parapet he could see Marcus too had taken shelter. His son had armed himself with a spear and a sword.

  Corbulo took a deep breath and jumped up and raised his spear. Figures and shapes moved below him. He flung the weapon at a man but missed. Then he ducked below the parapet. The Caledonians had started to hack at the gate. The sound of axes and swords battering against the wood was demonic. A couple of yards away a hand suddenly appeared grasping the edge of the parapet. A Caledonian was trying to climb over the wall. Corbulo slithered across and hacked at the fingers with his sword. The hand vanished with an agonising cry.

  "It's the woman," he suddenly heard Marcus cry out, "Its the woman from the well."

  Corbulo sat with his back against the wall. He was panting.

  "I knew I shouldn't have hit her," he muttered to himself. The noise from the gate was getting more frantic. The wood creaked ominously. How long would it be before they broke in? How long before the men outside coordinated their attacks and rushed them? He looked up at the square watchtower. A Roman corpse lay sprawled in the doorway.

  "Marcus," he shouted, "Get inside."

  Corbulo was last through the open doorway. The square tower was about three yards by three. A ladder led up to the
second floor. They clambered up it and Corbulo hauled the ladder up. Just then he heard a crash and a splintering of wood. The Caledonians had broken into the compound. A dog stormed into the entrance hall below them and leapt up in the air. Corbulo stumbled backwards in fright but the distance between the ground and the second floor was too great for the animal. Growling and snapping its jaws it landed back on the ground. Marcus was already climbing up the next ladder leading to the third floor and the observation platform outside. Corbulo looked around him wildly. The tower was a mess. There was nothing useful in this room. He saw a Caledonian looking up at him. The man's hard angry eyes gleamed. How long before their pursuers found a replacement ladder? Corbulo picked up a discarded earthen ware pot and flung it at his pursuer. The man vanished from view as the pot smashed to pieces on the ground. Then he picked up another pot and flung it down through the hole and then another. Then there was nothing left to throw.

  Marcus was shouting for him to come up to the third floor. There was an urgency in his voice that Corbulo could not ignore. He dashed up the ladder and pulled it up. He was at the top of the tower now. There was nowhere left to run to. Marcus was on the narrow walk way around the side of the tower. He was staring at something towards the south. Then Corbulo gasped. A few miles away was another narrow lake and yet this was not a lake, it was the sea. Riding upon the water were a dozen Roman galleys anchored just offshore.

  "So close," Marcus cried in frustration, "We are so damned close."

  The great barren mountains crowded around them, hemming them in on all sides. On one of the hills to his right he saw smoke rising up. It was the smoke he'd seen earlier. The Roman's must have attacked the Caledonian fort and set it on fire. The strategic value of this place was instantly recognisable to Corbulo. He wrenched his gaze from the ships and looked down into the compound. The Caledonians and their dogs were all over the place. Then he caught sight of a woman. She had lowered the hood of her cloak. Her cheeks looked flushed and her long black hair fluttered in the breeze. She was holding a spear. She caught sight of him staring at her. With a cry she raised her arm and flung her spear at him. The projectile hammered into the wood inches away from him. Corbulo staggered backwards into the watchtower and tripped over a Roman corpse. He landed on his arse. Then he blinked. Beneath the corpse something glinted. He pushed the dead soldier onto his back and stared at the object that had lain concealed under the man's body. It was a long, straight and shiny Tuba, a Roman trumpet.

  His eyes widened as an idea came to him. He picked up the piece of signalling equipment and poked its long straight snout out onto the observation platform. Then he blew with all his might. The blast of noise echoed off the distant hills. Then he blew again and again until he was red in the face. Lowering the trumpet he gasped for breath and saw Marcus staring at him in stunned, awed silence.

  "Blow the damn thing," Corbulo gasped. "I haven't got any breath left."

  Below them in the compound he heard the Caledonians shouting to each other. Then the horrible, coarse trumpet noise erupted again as Marcus put his lungs to work. Corbulo poked his head out onto the observation platform and stared at the sea. Below him he suddenly heard a triumphant yell and a scrambling of feet and arms. The Caledonians had managed to get onto the floor below them. Again the trumpet cut through the air. Would the Romans hear it? Would they come? Marcus gasped, took another deep breath and blasted away.

  Then Corbulo caught sight of a reflection in the sunlight. He slapped his face and tried to focus but his eyes were tired. He blinked. Then he saw it again. A mile or so away a troop of horsemen were riding towards the watch tower. The sunlight reflected on the riders armour.

  "Auxiliaries, they are coming," Corbulo shouted with sudden fierce delight. "Keep blowing that pipe Marcus, keep blowing that damn thing."

  The riders were coming on at a steady but cautious pace. Below him Marcus suddenly heard a woman's warning cry. She must have seen the riders too. Then the woman was right below the hole in the floor.

  "We will meet again Roman," she cried up at them, "Do not think that you will be able to sleep peacefully in your beds. I will find you."

  "Sorry, but I don't want you in my bed, bitch," Corbulo shouted back.

  There was no reply from below. Then Corbulo heard cries and shouts. Cautiously he again poked his head out onto the observation platform. The woman and her companions were riding away, back the way they had come with the pack of war dogs running behind them.

  "They are going," Corbulo yelled in triumph. "We made it Marcus, we made it." Marcus lowered the trumpet and managed a broad grin. Then the two of them stumbled towards each other and clasped each other in a fierce embrace. When they parted Corbulo stumbled out onto the observation platform. The Roman auxiliary patrol was nearly at the fort. Corbulo raised his arm and shouted at the men. Then he slumped back onto his arse leaning against the watchtower wall. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Marcus slumped down beside him. He was still holding the Tuba.

  "I always hated the noise this thing made," Marcus said looking down at the instrument.

  "I always despised the auxilary Cohorts," Corbulo grinned.

  They chuckled at that together. Then Corbulo opened his eyes and ran his hand over his face. "If that woman who was after us had any sense she would simply move the amber to another location or just block up that narrow, twisting cave passage. Seems a better solution than trying to kill us," he muttered.

  "Maybe she will," Marcus nodded. Then he stopped and turned to look at Corbulo. "How do you know where the amber was kept?"

  A guilty look suddenly appeared on Corbulo's face. Wearily he fumbled around for something on his belt. Then he produced a small leather pouch and undid the binding. Nestling inside was a beautiful piece of red amber.

  "I found the cave," Corbulo said with a grin, "I found it when I came to rescue you. It was a bit of luck I suppose but I had to take away a little souvenir. This piece here should buy me a nice plot of land."

  Corbulo's grin widened. "Look I even brought a stone for you."

  Authors Notes

  I first wrote Caledonia in 2009 inspired by a trip to Scotland. This book is a second edition of my original story.

  In this novel I have tried to stick as closely as possible to the written historical accounts that we have about the first Roman invasion of Scotland. Tacitus, Agricola's son in law, who is the main contemporary source for this invasion was very useful and therefore, to show my gratitude, I have included him as a minor character. The other excellent information source was David J Breeze's "Roman Scotland."

  The location of Mons Graupius is a hotly disputed topic but no one knows for certain where the battle took place or indeed in which year. In this novel I have opted for September 83 AD and the location as Bennachie in the Grampian mountains, to the west of modern day Aberdeen. The Celtic settlements of Tuesis and Bannatia are both mentioned in Ptolemy's "The Geography" but their exact locations are not given and we know very little about these places. Ptolemy mentions the Caledonian tribes of the Decantae and the Vacomagi but again, apart from that one mention, we know nothing more about these people.

  The main Amber producing region during the classical age was of course the Baltic which is why the famous Amber road from the Baltic, across eastern Europe to the Danube, came into being. There is however a rich folklore and tradition that tells of amber being found in Scotland although amber finds have actually been very rare.

  One of the great enduring questions concerning Roman Scotland was why did the Romans abandon Caledonia after destroying the Caledonian confederation at Mons Graupius? No one knows for sure why and in his book "Roman Scotland" Breeze gives us a number of possible reasons. To my mind having read a number of archeological dig reports on abandoned Roman forts such as Inchtuthil it seems that many of the Roman forts that encircled the Highlands were abandoned in a well planned manner suggesting that the Roman withdrawal was systematic, organised and dignified. I do not believe tha
t the Caledonian tribes drove the Romans out. It is more likely that changes in Imperial defence requirements meant that the troops based in Scotland were simply needed elsewhere.

  William Kelso is the author of two other novels "The Shield of Rome" & "The Fortune of Carthage" both available on www.amazon.co.uk