Eagles of Dacia

by S. J. A. Turney

  Severus shrugged. ‘Forget about Albinus for now.’

  ‘But he is manoeuvring for the throne.’

  ‘Rufinus, everyone is manoeuvring for the throne.’

  A sudden panic shot through him. Surely not? He had just revealed everything to this man.

  ‘My duty is to the emperor,’ Rufinus repeated, stern faced and straightening. ‘To Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, emperor of Rome.’

  ‘For gods’ sake, Rufinus, relax. You’ll do yourself an injury. Don’t panic so. I am loyal to the emperor. As loyal as any subject and a damn sight more than most. I have no intention of revolting against him, but then neither has Albinus. Nor Pertinax or Pompeianus or Julianus or any other player of the game. But Commodus has no heir in place and he is becoming unpopular with the senate and the powerful families in Rome. It matters not how much the people and the army love an emperor if he angers the nobles. Ask Caligula. Or Nero. Or Domitian. No one with any sense is moving against the emperor, but we all intend to be ready when the time comes, because when the emperor falls without succession there will be a feeding frenzy the like of which you have never seen. It is useful to know about Albinus, and about Niger, and all their web, and that information will be invaluable at some point. But for now it is just that: information.’

  The beast was roaring again, and Rufinus felt an odd thrill at the knowledge that, while men like Albinus were vying for power, and Cleander still slithered about in Rome, there were still lions like Severus in the empire.

  ‘Cleander, though,’ Rufinus began.

  ‘Cleander must fall – you are correct on that count – but it will be difficult, and will not be a quick job. Plans must be put in place and carefully executed, unless those responsible wish to be carefully executed themselves.’

  ‘Then what do I do?’ Rufinus sighed. ‘I am nobody. Not a praetorian. Not anything. I’m a ghost.’

  ‘You don’t have to be nobody,’ Severus said with an odd smile.

  ‘Governor?’

  ‘Join me, Rufinus.’

  The young ghost frowned. ‘How? When? Where?’

  ‘The how is easy. Choose a name. This Dionysus, even. Within a week back in Rome I will secure you documents legitimising you. The when is now. I will always find a place on my staff for clever and honest men. You will be useful to me and, believe me, I can be useful to you. The where is more complex. I am bound for Emesa, and I am in something of a hurry. I am seeking a match with a certain noblewoman of Syrian origin, but as soon as that agreement is reached I will be returning to Gaul. There is still something of a mess there following Maternus’ uprising. Come with me. To Syria. To Rome. To Gaul. We will think upon the coming months and plan the downfall of Rome’s wicked serpent.’ The governor smiled. ‘Your lady here, too. And your slave. And even that thing,’ he added, pointing at Acheron who stood quietly beside Luca near the door. ‘What do you say?’

  Rufinus shook his head in wonder. Fortuna. The altar he was going to have to devote to her would need to be the size of a house at this rate. But this lion of a man could be the very one to make a difference. To change things. To repair Rome.

  He smiled.

  ‘Yes,’ said Rufinus.

  THE END.

  Historical note

  Praetorian 3 is both about a journey and is a journey in itself. I first devised the plot immediately after completing the second book, but I knew that if I were to try and write this with any hint of authenticity I would have to travel Rufinus’ route, smell the smells, climb the slopes, listen to the sounds and feel the sun and rain. Time and financial constraints prevented the research trip for some time and so the book was delayed by more than a year. I’m glad I waited. Some of the locations and scenes in this book that I love most would never have been written had I not experienced Romania. I urge you to visit (more on this matter at the end of the note, which holds a key for you!).

  The plot of the book is my own devising, based upon a few known elements, unlike books 1 and 2 which were based heavily around solidly documented events (the plot of Lucilla and the downfall of Perennis.) All I had to work with for this was a brief note that Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger commanded together in Dacia during an otherwise unrecorded altercation. The timeline is a little confused, and there are Sarmatian incursions, local risings and a revolt of the gold miners. I have simply slipped these events into the plot in such a way as it builds a plot for Rufinus to unravel. And yes, I know he seems to have lost again (he was somewhat dejected at the end of book 2) but looking a little deeper, he has actually emerged in a strong and unexpected position with a powerful ally. This was necessary and lays elements of two books yet to come.

  Each of the Praetorian novels has explored a theme to the backdrop of a new location. The first was set largely in Rome and environs with Rufinus as something of a young fish out of water, learning the hard way the rules of Roman political shenanigans. The second explored darker themes of addiction and revenge among the Danubian provinces. This third has been a journey that has explored relationships and changed Rufinus in subtle ways.

  A little something on locations is needed, I think, though I’ll skip most of this and you’ll see why later.

  The Savus marshes through which Rufinus and Senova pass in the first chapter are now gone. At the time of the geographer Ptolemy, the Savus became a huge marshland before emptying into the Danube and it would have been the same in Rufinus’ time. The marsh was drained in the later empire and reclaimed, partially by the emperor Probus who ordered a canal dug in 282. My image of the ancient Savus marshes is a recreation of the Dyfi wetlands in North Wales, which contains much the same flora and fauna as would have been visible there.

  Apulum (modern Alba Iulia) has been much covered with later building (though some of that is phenomenal and historic in its own right. Alba Iulia remains one of my favourite places I visited and is the home to a Roman festival and the re-enactment group Garda Apulum. Their centurion, Ciprian Dobra, guided us around the Roman remains of the city and has since acted as a great source of information on Roman Dacia and in particular the gold mining. More of this later, too.

  Much of Romania’s Roman heritage is well cared-for, and there really is quite a lot. The beauty of it, as a Roman historian, is that Dacia was only a Roman province from 107 until 275. Living in Roman Britain I often bemoan the fact that we have remains from only 367 years of occupation from an empire that lasted 2 millennia. Romania only has 168 years’ worth. But that means that much of what was there in the early days was there at the end and vice versa. Certainly for a visitor somewhere more or less hallway through the province’s life, things were very much settled and existed by Rufinus time.

  Commodava (Cumidava) is an interesting site in that respect. I had, prior to writing, seen the fort mentioned as part of the Severan refortification of Dacia’s eastern limes. On further research, I have found it suggested that it was part of the original Trajanic system. Somewhere in between, while in nearby Brasov I found a source that suggested that the site, and indeed the entire frontier, was actually already being reworked in the Commodian era as a response to the various invasions the place had suffered. This source also suggested that rather than the ‘Cumi’ being a Latinisation of Dacian ‘Comi’, the site had originally borne another name and that Cumidava came from Commodava, named for the emperor who reworked its place in the system. One thing is certain: Cumidava existed in Rufinus’ time, but had not yet acquired its stone walls. At this stage it was still a turf and timber frontier fort. A work from Durham University (http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3957/1/3957_1473-vol1.pdf) sites that Cumidava has produced evidence of a 2nd century occupation phase. This is somewhat supported by “Pending excavations, the date of its construction can only be guessed at. The general assumption is that the Limes Transalutanus was constructed around 200 A.D., and abandoned by the middle of the 3rd century. Even without excavation, the traces found at certain camps (Săpata de Jos, Urluieni, Băneasa) of
two forts, side by side, indicate two construction periods, for it is unlikely that they would have been in use simultaneously. This suggests that the camps in the outer line were used for a longer period of time, and that they may have been constructed before 200” from http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/13.html. I have therefore chosen to go with this.

  A mention of dates, too, needs to be made. It is commonly noted that Niger and Albinus held their commissions in Dacia around 182-183, or possibly 184. There is a suggestion of an insurrection in 185 and the miners’ revolt in 187. Dating these events accurately is something of a headache, especially given that Herodian, Cassius Dio and the Historia Augusta generally disagree with one another and are often anecdotal. From http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/16.html we find: “During Commodus's reign, unrest and disturbances were rife among the people of Dacia. The causes were many: fifteen years of devastating war, the plague, the inadequacies of military defence and public security, the slow pace of reconstruction, economic difficulties, and progress toward urban self-government that was slower than in other provinces. It is briefly noted in the Emperor's biography that a local revolt broke out in Dacia around 185. There is no indication that indigenous Dacians participated in the insurrection.” There is a list of the Legates of the 13th Gemina in Alba Iulia, which Ciprian Dobra helpfully showed me, which has the post held by M. Valerius Maximianus 181-182 and C. Caerellius Sabinus 183-185, then a gap until M. Herennius Faustus in 190. In my reasoning, since Niger and Albinus would need to command the two legions in Dacia for the campaign that is recorded it could not be between 181 and 185, and would have to be after that. I am therefore unrepentant in setting my campaign in that gap. Plus it fits with Rufinus’ arc. And any other dates that have been tweaked a little have only been done so to help the story. Incidentally, while it seems almost beggaring belief to ‘bump into’ Septimius Severus in Athens, he is historically attested at this time travelling to Syria to woo the woman who would become his wife and future empress. And boy, does it segue nicely into my plan for book 4 which, you will hopefully be pleased to hear, will finally deal with Cleander.

  I will hold my hands up in a mea culpa to one unit being moved for the simple reason of story. The Numerus Germanicanorum are based in the book at the fort in the place now called Buciumi, which was almost certainly the ancient fort of Bucium. In fact, the Numerus were apparently based at the unnamed fort at modern Bucium. I could in fairness have rejigged the plot and used a different unit, but that Numerus was in operation somewhere in Romania probably throughout the existence of Dacia province in several locations and during times of war, Roman units – especially scouts – moved a lot, so I am really rather unrepentant. Narcissus and his men were fun.

  There will, as I hinted earlier, be a book 4 (and possibly more yet) and it is scheduled for late 2018. But as an extra note you may be aware that my first novel with Orion (Caligula) is released in March 2018. Well, the second novel in the Damned Emperors series (2019) will be Commodus, and will deal in some detail with the life of the emperor I have touched upon in this series, so if you’re concerned that I’m skating around the life of that Herculean emperor, then remember that it will be thoroughly covered in a whole separate novel in due course.

  Finally, before I run off and write something new and also exciting, there is one thing I need to give you. I mentioned a key earlier. As I wrote this book, I continually penned a page on my blog that follows Rufinus’ journey (and therefore my own research trip) with plenty of photos, for you to have a look at and perhaps see something of what you’ve just read.

  Visit https://sjat.wordpress.com/eagles-of-dacia-rufinus-journey/ to experience more of Rufinus’ travels. But I would ask you not to advertise this page and to keep it as our closed little secret, lest it spoil the novel for those who haven’t read it yet. In terms of what Rufinus (and I) saw, this webpage is more or less the second half of the Historical Note.

  I hope you enjoyed reading Praetorian III as much as I enjoyed writing it. Rufinus will return, while, for now, I change centuries and work on something new.

  Vale,

  Simon Turney,

  November 2017

  If you liked this book, why not try other series by S.J.A. Turney

  Interregnum (Tales of the Empire 1)

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  For twenty years civil war has torn the Empire apart; the Imperial line extinguished as the mad Emperor Quintus burned in his palace, betrayed by his greatest general. Against a background of war, decay, poverty and violence, men who once served in the proud Imperial army now fight as mercenaries, hiring themselves to the greediest lords.

  On a hopeless battlefield that same general, now a mercenary captain tortured by the events of his past, stumbles across hope in the form of a young man begging for help. Kiva is forced to face more than his dark past as he struggles to put his life and the very Empire back together. The last scion of the Imperial line will change Kiva forever.

  Marius’ Mules I: The Invasion of Gaul

  (2009) *

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  Fronto is about to discover that politics can be as dangerous as battle, that old enemies can be trusted more than new friends, and that standing close to such a shining figure as Caesar, even the most ethical of men risk being burned.

  The Thief’s Tale (Ottoman Cycle 1)

  (2013) *

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  Skiouros and Lykaion, the sons of a Greek country farmer, are conscripted into the ranks of the famous Janissary guards and taken to Istanbul where they will play a pivotal, if unsung, role in the history of the new regime. As Skiouros escapes into the Greek quarter and vanishes among its streets to survive on his wits alone, Lykaion remains with the slave chain to fulfill his destiny and become an Islamic convert and a guard of the Imperial palace. Brothers they remain, though standing to either side of an unimaginable divide.

  On a fateful day in late autumn 1490, Skiouros picks the wrong pocket and begins to unravel a plot that reaches to the very highest peaks of Imperial power. He and his brother are about to be left with the most difficult decision faced by a conquered Greek: whether the rule of the Ottoman Sultan is worth saving.

  * Sequels in all series also available