he wasn’t there to look after you.
“You haven’t asked where we’re going, Scortius? Aren’t you a little curious, given my circumstances?”
The doctor sighed.
“Varro, I haven’t got time to mess around. You’ve got things you need to do? Fair enough. Stick with my medication plan and you should be around long enough to do whatever it is and come back. In the meantime, I’ve got almost a hundred wounds to track and look after, some of which are life threatening, and the marshal’s sent word that he wants to see me, so I’m going to be busier than ever.”
The captain nodded and stood gently. Reaching out, he placed his hand on Scortius’ shoulder and squeezed lightly.
“Thank you. I will be back, hopefully within the week. Look after the men.”
The doctor smiled sadly.
“Don’t I always? Now get out of my hospital.”
As Varro turned stiffly and strode through the door, the doctor grasped Salonius by the arm as he rose to follow suit, hoisting the leather bag over his shoulder. He blinked in surprise and looked up.
“Look after him, young man. Make sure he’s careful with that medicine and make sure he gets back to me. I’ve a few ideas I need to follow up on.”
Salonius nodded, saluted and followed his commander out into the cold yet bright afternoon sun.
Varro tied the pouch tight and put it carefully away in the saddle bag draped across his knee once more. Using his index finger, he stirred the mug of lemon and water, mixing the powder thoroughly until fully dissolved, and then drained the contents in one long draught. He peered across at the window and then back at Salonius.
“I think it’s time.”
Salonius sighed gratefully. The two men had been packed and ready now for three hours waiting for darkness to descend before they made to leave. Slowly he stood, squared his shoulders and stretched hard. Deferentially, he stood quietly to one side to let Varro past and the captain stood, shouldering his bags.
“Salonius, there’s something I’ve got to say…”
The young man raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
“I’m not a serving captain and you’re not even serving in an official capacity at the moment. I’m relying heavily on you and you’ll likely have to rely on me. We’re not going to be in camps, among soldiers or anywhere where rank’s going to matter.”
“Sir?” Salonius looked unsure.
“I know it seems odd,” the captain smiled, “but I’m Varro and you’re Salonius and I think that’s enough. No ranks. You’re not a soldier right now, nor a guard or a bodyguard. You’re my travelling companion. You understand?”
The young man nodded and grinned.
“Got it, sir.”
“Knock that off!” the captain grumbled.
Still smiling, Salonius followed Varro out of the room, hefting his saddle bag over his shoulder in the same manner as the captain. The two stopped momentarily in the kitchen area to the rear of the house, where Martis stood holding out a bag of prepared food for them. Varro stopped in front of his body servant and smiled sadly.
“This is it Martis. I’ll be gone for a week at least, so I doubt I’ll see you again.”
The stocky man looked up at Varro and cleared his throat.
“I do not need to rush away sir. I will await your return.”
Varro’s smile faltered for a moment before returning with a slightly forced look.
“I’m not going to be around much longer, Martis. You need to look for new employment. I’ve informed the fort commander that you have full control of my house in my absence. Stay as long as you need until you can secure a new position, and I’ve left a few months’ wages in a secure pouch. You know where to look.”
Salonius was surprised to see tears in the servant’s eyes and straightened, realising he himself was close to showing far more unhappiness than was seemly. He stood quietly as Varro clasped hands with the servant and wordlessly turned, striding out of the door to the stable at the rear.
Salonius grasped the bag being proffered by the servant and nodded gratefully at him.
“I hope everything works out for you, Martis.”
Casting a last sympathetic look at the suddenly frail looking man, Salonius turned and walked out into the late dusk breeze, across the small garden and into the stable. Martis had arranged for a fine chestnut mare for a very reasonable price from the settlement outside the walls. As an officer, Varro owned his steed, but that assigned to his companion remained the property of the cohort. Their efforts during the afternoon had been thorough, the horses laden with well balanced packs, all done within the privacy of the captain’s stable.
As he entered, the captain was just fastening the straps on his saddle bags. He walked round the horse, tugging straps and pulling at bags to test the fastenings as Salonius attached his own saddle bags and made final checks. He looked over at Varro, satisfied with the results, and the captain walked over to the stable doors and peered through the narrow gap.
“Dark enough. Let’s go.”
The two men led their horses a couple of steps forward and Varro threw back the wooden beam, swinging the doors wide open. The street, as they’d predicted, was all but deserted. Most of the men were now off duty, relaxing in the baths or in their rooms, or making the most of their free time in either the fort’s own bar or one of the less reputable drinking and whoring establishments in the civilian settlement.
The pair drew a few interested looks as, fully armoured, they led their mounts along the paved road between the officers’ houses and toward the fort’s west gate. Their exit had been carefully selected as the only road that passed between nothing but quarters, granaries and workshops, giving them the lowest number of personnel to encounter.
Varro eyed each man they passed with deep suspicion, though apparently unfounded. The few looks they drew were from the ordinary soldiery going about their evening business. Five minutes later they approached the gate with its burning braziers and torches and half dozen guards leaning on their spears until they saw a superior officer approaching and came hurriedly to attention.
The gates stood half open and would do until the evening guard came on duty and these men fell out. The guards saluted as they passed but made no move to question them. Such freedom was a novelty to Salonius, but then why would the guard be expected to question the authority of a senior officer leaving the camp. And then the two men were out in the night, the burning lights behind them making the darkness ahead seem that much deeper.
As soon as they were out of the circle of light from the gate, Varro gestured to his companion and the two of them mounted up and wheeled their horses at a right angle, away from the road and along the line of the fort wall, lit at intervals with braziers and patrolled by now distant shadowy shapes. Ahead the faint lights and brooding shapes of the civilian buildings stood out against the ever darkening skyline.
With another gesture, Varro directed them down the slope and behind a small knot of trees. Wordlessly, listening to the distant murmur of the men on the walls, they removed the crests from their helmets and slid them down into the open bags beside them. Then, removing the helmets altogether, they fastened the chin straps and hung them from the saddle horn in front of them before pulling the hoods of their cloaks up over their heads and drawing the woollen folds tighter around themselves. And no longer displaying openly their rank and position the two now mundane riders returned to the grassy slope and pressed on into the civilian settlement, between the houses and out onto the main north approach road to the fort.
The few figures wandering around in the open were entirely indifferent to the two cloaked figures trotting gently through the town, concerned as they were with making the most of their off-duty time, filling their free hours with cheap wine or beer, women of low moral virtue and games of chance. Reaching the end of the occupied area, Varro and Salonius began their journey north toward the mountains.
As they disappeared from view, shapes detached from the shadows cast by one of the fort’s towers and trotted out into the night, taking the northern road at a leisurely pace.
