‘And the gold that my idiot colleague Belletor saw fit to bestow upon Balodi? It’s fairly clear that he cemented his usurped position as king by making an offering of the coin to Purta in return for his backing.’
Albinus shook his head, making the warding sign at the mention of the dead tribune’s name.
‘Domitius Belletor doesn’t seem to have been much of a judge of men, does he? May the gods preserve us both from a misjudgement of that order. If what you say is true, then Purta can buy his release from the trap we have him in with gold as well as the lives of his children. A day or two watching our soldiers fortify the hills around his camp ought to provide him with a decent enough incentive.’
The two legati met Purta on the far side of a newly constructed bridge over the fort’s western ditch, inside the hollow square of the Thirteenth Legion’s five thousand men, whose first spear oversaw proceedings with a sharp eye and a sharper tongue. The auxiliary cohorts that had defended the fort lined the ditch that had seen so much bloodshed, their shields four ranks deep behind the earth wall in a deliberately impressive show of strength. The legion’s centurions served as the senior officers’ honour guard, a circle of sixty hard, forbidding faces into which Purta and his fellow nobles walked with their swords held out in both hands, as instructed. Clodius Albinus waited in silence as the king and his men presented their weapons to the legion’s first spear, who subjected them to a careful inspection in order to confirm that they were of sufficient quality to count as the first peace offerings. With the enemy leaders disarmed, Albinus stepped forward to face the defeated Sarmatae ruler. He looked the king up and down with a grim stare before speaking.
‘This is not a negotiation, King Purta, and the terms I am about to impose upon you are not a proposal. To put it bluntly, you have gambled and lost. You chose to chance your arm against the army of the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and you have failed. You can either have peace, on our terms, or you can return to your people and tell them to arm themselves for a short and brutal fight. Our archers and bolt throwers will rain sharp iron into you from all sides, and when we judge the time is right we will send our legionaries forward to grind out any last vestiges of resistance. Then, when we’ve inevitably won that fight, given we have your exits barred and men on the high ground to all sides, your people will be enslaved. Not just these men here, but your entire nation. I am ordered by the emperor either to make peace, here, now and on Rome’s terms, or to empty your lands of every man, woman and child in order to enable the settlement of more amenable neighbours. If you make it necessary I will simply erase your tribe from history and repopulate your land.’
He raised a piece of paper.
‘The terms the emperor offers you are these. Firstly, you will return the gold which was recently paid to your servant Balodi as a sign of good faith. Any of the gold which has been dispersed will be replaced from your own treasury. Any shortfall thereafter will be recompensed to the empire in the form of slaves, each of whom will be reckoned in at half the market rate to account for the likely oversupply and consequent fall in their sale price.
‘Secondly, you will provide Rome with a further five thousand horsemen for service on the empire’s borders. Thirdly, you will present your own children and those of your nobles to act as hostages. They will be raised in Rome, trained to be model Roman citizens, and their safety will be the reward you will earn for your compliance with the terms of this treaty. We will return them when they are ready to rule in your places, at which point you will abdicate in their favour. Fourthly, you will submit to frequent and robust policing of these terms by our legions, which will be free to march across your lands without hindrance. Any gathering of more than one hundred men will be conducted under the control of Roman officers, and any such gathering which is unsupervised will be considered as an act of war. And lastly, you will free every Roman citizen currently enslaved by your people immediately. And let me warn you, Purta, that if in the course of policing this treaty our officers discover any evidence of continued enslavement of even a single Roman citizen, they will be authorised to burn the settlement in question to the ground, and to enslave every man, woman and child they can lay their hands on.’
He looked the Sarmatae king up and down with a look of disdain.
‘You have no choice in the matter of these demands other than whether to submit to them peacefully or at the point of a spear with your own shipment to Rome for public execution a consequent inevitability. Decide now.’
Purta bowed his head briefly in submission.
‘I will comply with these terms.’
Albinus nodded tersely, passing the paper to his clerk.
‘Wise, Purta, given that you have no real choice. Be very clear though, that this peace will be policed by men like these.’ Albinus waved an arm at the centurions arrayed about them. ‘Rome will have peace on its own terms, with routine patrols across your lands to ensure that no further stupidity of the sort we’ve seen here is allowed to take root. You will be king, but your position will be underwritten and controlled by Roman arms, and you will be subject to very close scrutiny.’
Purta nodded again, his face set in impassive lines. Albinus gestured to the surviving nobles from Balodi’s tribe, huddled under the Tungrians’ spears on the far side of the bridge.
‘These men, however, do not come under the terms of this agreement. Their former king made a formal agreement to remove them from the war and to return to his homeland, a pledge that was agreed by all of his nobles but then repudiated by his father’s brother when he murdered Galatas. The king’s murderer was then foolish enough to bring them to your side in defiance of this agreement, and he has therefore doomed them all to slavery, without exception. They will carry out whatever labour Rome sees fit for them for the rest of their lives, and will content themselves that the alternative was a slow and bloody execution. I intend to sell them into the service of Rome’s mines in the valley of the Ravenstone. They can spend the rest of their miserable lives tearing gold from the mountains in the service of the empire, and providing her with the treasure she needs to remain strong in the face of threats like these. They will all march south to the mine under guard, with one exception, and none of them will ever be freed to return to their homes. This is the price that must be paid by every man who reneges on an agreement with Rome. One man, however, has committed crimes too great for me to ignore, or to punish with simple servitude. Bring him forward!’
He stared into Balodi’s face with an expression of contempt as the king was forced to his knees at the edge of the circle of centurions.
‘This man agreed a treaty with Rome without ever intending to honour either its terms or its spirit. He enslaved hundreds of Roman citizens, and therefore presided over their degradation and murder, and it gives me great pleasure to order his execution here and now, as a salutary lesson for you all. Tribune?’
He gestured to Scaurus, who nodded to Julius. The first spear turned to Marcus, extending a hand to point at Balodi.
‘Centurion, exact the justice you promised the veteran, a slow and painful death to match his family’s agony.’
Only Marcus and Balodi heard the first spear’s muttered command, and the tribal leader staggered on legs suddenly gone weak as Marcus lifted him by the collar of his rough tunic and pushed him forward into the ring of men. Albinus gestured to the Sarmatae chieftain with a look of scorn.
‘Let this serve as an example to you, Purta, of the treatment you can expect if you make the mistake of repaying Rome’s generous lenience in this matter with anything other than the greatest respect. Centurion?’
Marcus put a boot into the back of Balodi’s knees and forced him to the ground in a kneeling position. Reaching into a pouch on his belt he pulled out a small object wrapped in rags, carefully allowing the protective cloth to fall away and reveal what it was he held. Albinus was speaking again, pacing towards the kneeling king but aiming his words at an ashen-faced Purta.
&
nbsp; ‘This man not only bit the empire’s beneficent hand, in spite of the generous terms that he was offered to put an end to his tribe’s attempts at capturing the Ravenstone valley mines, he was also responsible for a crime against the Roman people. Having promised that he would ensure the release of the Roman citizens he held as slaves, he then forced them into the forefront of the attack on this place. You are both responsible for the deaths of innocent men, women and children who had a right to imperial protection, and it is in their name that we now punish him. Be grateful that I don’t have you share his fate, and be assured that if you ever attempt to rise against Rome in the future, the justice you are about to see delivered to this man will surely be visited upon you.’ His gaze swept the men standing around the king, their eyes fixed on Balodi as he knelt before them. ‘Upon all of you, and your families.’
Marcus held the small object he had taken from his pouch aloft and then put it under Balodi’s nose, nodding grimly as the helpless man pulled his head away from its pungent stench. Albinus smiled at the prisoner’s horrified expression, waving a dismissive hand at him.
‘I would have preferred to provide the shades of this man’s departed victims with the compensation of their murderer suffering a rather more protracted punishment. Scourging, crucifixion and eventual dismemberment are the empire’s prescribed means of executing men such as this, but I am persuaded that this alternative means of retribution is suitably fitting in this man’s case.’
He gestured to Marcus, who took out the veteran’s pendant and wiped it carefully down the blade of the poisoned arrowhead he had pulled from his shield weeks before, staining the metal with its yellow-green coating of poison. Jerking Balodi’s head back, he pushed the metal disc into his mouth and then wrapped a hand over the tribal leader’s lips to prevent him from spitting it out. Julius stepped forward and put his boot into Balodi’s stomach hard enough to double the Sarmatae over, and both men watched as he writhed with the pain of the kick. Staring up at the centurions, his eyes widened as he realised that the metal disc was no longer in his mouth, and Marcus nodded down at him with a look of grim satisfaction. Albinus walked across to the stricken nobleman, looking down impassively as Balodi’s eyes opened wide with the realisation of his doom.
‘My officers tell me that while even a small dose of this poison administered via a cut to the skin will kill a man quickly, ingestion is rumoured to be a good deal slower and more painful.’ Albinus turned back to Purta, whose face was now even whiter than before. ‘The victim, they tell me, soils himself. He struggles to breathe, and he is afflicted with severe pains in the stomach as the poison works on his organs. It will take Balodi hours to die, time during which he will be guarded by my men here in order to prevent any attempt to end his life in a more merciful manner. And if by some chance he manages to survive this dose of his own men’s poison, the process will simply be repeated. Let this be a warning to you all.’
9
Legatus Albinus rose and came round his desk when Scaurus, Julius and Marcus were admitted to his office, shaking his head in apology at having summoned them so late in the evening. After the ceremonious surrender of the Sarmatae nobles, the process of disarming their men had begun, although it was expected to take two or three more days to march every one of them past the growing pile of their surrendered weapons. Cattanius was standing to one side and snapped to attention, saluting the tribune with his usual precision while his legatus launched into an explanation for his untimely summons.
‘I’m sorry, Rutilius Scaurus, to have dragged you away from your tent after such a long day, but news of a most alarming nature has been delivered to me by my man Cattanius here. It seems that the mine at Alburnus Major has been taken by bandits.’
Scaurus exchanged glances with his centurions, shaking his head in disbelief.
‘I find that rather hard to believe, Legatus. When we left it, the mining facility was secure and under the guard of over a thousand men. I can’t see why Prefect Gerwulf would have had any problem in defending. .’
He fell silent under Albinus’s stare. The legatus gestured for Cattanius to speak, and the beneficiarius stepped forward to explain.
‘The legatus sent me to Alburnus Major along with a century of legionaries to procure sufficient gold from the procurator to pay the soldiers. When I reached the valley, however, I found the gates to the earth wall you built for its defence closed, and manned by Prefect Gerwulf’s soldiers. When I demanded for the gate to be opened they just laughed at me. After a while Gerwulf himself appeared on the wall above me, with Procurator Maximus and the mine owners in shackles alongside him. He told me that he’d decided that when it came to a choice between serving Rome and making off with enough gold to buy an army of his own, the decision was an easy one. It seems that he has turned against the empire, Tribune, an impression I must say was somewhat reinforced when he cut Procurator Maximus’s throat and threw him off the wall to land at my feet. I decided that this was enough of a threat to justify ordering my escort back down the road to Apulum. Once I considered it safe to do so I had their centurion wait in the shelter of the forest beside the road, while I went for a quiet scout over the hills towards the mine.’
Scaurus raised an eyebrow, sharing a glance with Albinus who nodded smugly in reply.
‘What did you expect, Gaius? I didn’t make the man my beneficiarius just because he had his numbers and letters you know! Tell the tribune what it was that you saw, Cattanius.’
‘I went over the mountain that night, and hid on the slopes close to the miners’ quarters. From what I saw the Germans are still sleeping in their own barracks, and using no more than a century of men to patrol the camp once they’ve got the miners locked down. They don’t bring the rest of the cohort out to play until it’s time for the day’s labour to begin again.’
‘I don’t suppose they need much of a presence during the night, given that they’ve probably worked the labourers half to death during the day. What about Gerwulf?’
‘The Wolf seems to have requisitioned the woman’s house, and most likely her body too. I saw him leave the place the next morning, and he was looking about as smug as you can imagine.’
Scaurus nodded grimly.
‘No wonder. He’s putting one over on the empire on a monumental scale, isn’t he? The signs were there to be seen, gentlemen, but they were lost in the enmity between myself and my colleague Belletor. If the man was willing to slaughter an entire village simply to provide his men with sport then I have no doubt he’s capable of murder in support of a robbery on such an epic scale.’ He turned to Albinus with a note of urgency in his voice. ‘I presume you plan to send a relief force to the valley at once, Legatus? Procurator Maximus’s strongroom held enough gold to mint well over a hundred thousand aureii, and every day that passes will see enough for another three thousand unearthed from the mountains. And that’s before we give any thought to the mineworkers, who are probably being worked to death to wring out every last speck of gold before Gerwulf quits the valley and makes a run for the north. Every day we delay will deepen the damage that he’ll do to the mine’s ability to generate wealth, never mind what he makes off with.’
The legatus shook his head with a scowl, waving a hand about him.
‘What I didn’t tell you earlier is that we don’t have quite the strength to hand that we’ve led King Purta to believe. Put bluntly Gaius, there’s no way any of the forces whose threat is keeping the Sarmatae in their camp can be spared. Our two under-strength legions and the auxiliaries supporting them are fifteen thousand men, and we have our boot on the throat of an enemy with getting on for twice that strength. While we give every indication of being in control of the situation, and of having as much time as is necessary for a managed process of disarming and dispersing the Sarmatae host, in truth it’s something of a confidence trick. We keep the barbarians subdued by perpetuating their belief that they are in the presence of overwhelming strength, but if we send even part of a legion
away to the south to recapture the Ravenstone valley then there is every chance that they might realise how weak we really are. Purta might decide to take the risk of attempting to smash a way out to his own land through one of the valleys to the north, if he knew that there were only a few cohorts in his path. So, until we have them fully disarmed and dispersed I simply cannot take the risk of putting the entire frontier in jeopardy, which means that I can afford no more than your two Tungrian cohorts. And you’ll have to march before daybreak, in the hope that your departure will go unnoticed.’
Scaurus straightened his weary back.
‘You wish me to recapture the mine, Legatus?’
Albinus smiled indulgently.
‘Ever dutiful, eh Gaius? No, Tribune, I do not expect you to pull off any such masterstroke, although Mithras knows that if you did it would be good for all of our reputations. I do expect you to keep the Germans bottled up though, and give me enough time to disperse these Sarmatae animals back to their homelands. I’ll follow you down the road to Alburnus Major quickly enough, once I’m assured that they can’t simply turn around and come back for another try, and in the meantime all you have to do is patrol their perimeter and keep them from escaping. Think you can manage that?’
Julius opened his mouth to make a comment, but before the words were formed Scaurus had his fist against the bronze of his chest plate and then extended in a vigorous salute.
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