but for now trust me when I tell you that this is a risk I cannot avoid. Not if I am to bring about the great victory we need to get their dirty feet off our land.’
The warrior bowed and stood aside, watching as the men of his chieftain’s bodyguard ducked through the artfully concealed opening in the palisade that surrounded the camp and moved out into the trees ahead of the king, their spears ready to throw and their eyes on the forest about them. Turning back to his men, he gestured for them to continue their guard duty, looking across the camp long and hard to ensure that no early riser had spotted Calgus’s quiet departure. When he turned back to the forest, the small group of men was already out of sight, hidden by the profusion of vegetation that flourished between the thick trunks of the oaks.
The small party made cautious progress through the silent forest, using a hunter’s track through the dense undergrowth which had seen little recent use, to judge by the luxuriant foliage growing across it. They broke off the line of their march several times to wait quietly in the cover of the thick undergrowth, in hopes of surprising any attempt at following them through the forest’s gloom. By midday they were crouched in the shelter of a fallen tree at the bottom of a valley about five miles from their camp.
‘No, my lord, we are not followed.’ The leader of the warlord’s personal guard shook his head with absolute certainty, his voice pitched low enough that only Calgus could hear him. ‘The forest is quiet, and anyone following us along these overgrown paths would be heard from two hundred paces.’
Calgus nodded his satisfaction.
‘Good. Then I can push on without fear of being observed.’
The warrior pulled a face, looking around at the deep forest’s confusion of trees and bushes.
‘In all truth, my lord, I have a greater fear of what lies ahead of us than with what might or might not lie behind. What I have said is as true for us as for any man tracking us…’
Calgus nodded his understanding.
‘I know. Once we start moving we’ll be making as much noise as a herd of pigs on the hunt for nuts. But nevertheless I have to move on and take that risk. I have an appointment on the far side of this hill that I am unwilling to miss.’
‘My lord.’
The bodyguard stood, gesturing to his comrades to prepare to renew their march. Calgus shook his head.
‘“I”, not “we”. This is a task that I must carry out alone, and you men must wait here for my return. While I’m away you can prepare torches, in case I’m later coming back over the hill than would be ideal, but you will under no circumstances attempt to follow me.’
‘And if you don’t return before dark?’
Calgus nodded.
‘It’s possible. In that case you are to build a large fire, and take turns in watching out for me, but you are still to stay here.’
He turned away and headed on up the hill, pushing aside a branch that was overhanging the path.
‘And if you still don’t return, my lord? How long should we wait?’
Calgus paused for a moment, calling back over his shoulder.
‘As long as it takes.’
He turned back to the path, muttering under his breath.
‘Which, if I’ve misjudged my gamble, won’t be very long. If I’ve got this one wrong we’ll all be dead before dark falls.’
He climbed the hill with a hunter’s caution, his eyes and ears straining for any hint of a presence in the trees around him, but neither saw nor heard anything to give him pause, continuing his careful ascent until he reached the top of the hill. Sliding into the shadow of a tree, he became absolutely still, so quiet that he could feel his own heart beating, and listened again. After a moment he caught a sound through the incessant drone of the forest’s insects, only a faint fragment of noise, but enough to tell him that he was in the right place. As he eased back to his feet a spear slammed into the tree’s trunk a foot from his face, stopping him dead as a warrior rose out of the foliage, another spear pointed straight at him, more men at his back. Each one of them was heavily tattooed, swirling blue patterns decorating their hands and faces. The king of the Selgovae raised his open hands, careful to make no move that might be interpreted as threatening.
‘Well, that’s the hardest part of the trick done; I’ve found you without getting myself killed. Shall we go down the hill and see who’s waiting for me at the bottom?’
The man behind the levelled spear scowled at him, gesturing his men forward.
‘Take his weapons and tie his hands.’
He watched as the rebel leader was relieved of his sword and had his wrists tied together in front of him. Calgus’s return stare remained steady throughout the swift process of disarmament and restraint.
‘Do your people always treat invited guests in this way?’
The spearman snorted mirthless laughter.
‘We are a long way from home, and the Hunting Hounds have learned the hard way to trust nobody until they are proved worthy of it. Bring him.’
Prefect Furius paraded the Second Tungrians after breakfast the next day, waiting next to his first spear as the cohort marched on to The Rock’s parade ground. The older man spoke after a moment’s silence.
‘You intend going through with what we discussed?’
The prefect nodded confidently.
‘Absolutely. I’ll have Prefect Bassus’s murderer underground before we leave here, that or the local crows will eat well for the next few days. My only concern about dealing with the matter today is that you haven’t managed to find the bastard over the last two months.’
They stood in uncomfortable silence until the last century had marched on to the square, and the entire cohort was stood at attention. Furius strode out to face them, self-assured confidence in his authority apparent in his stride and bearing.
‘Second Cohort…’ The ranks of troops waited expectantly to be ordered to stand at their ease. ‘… normally I would order you to stand easy for my morning address, but this morning isn’t normal, so you can all stay at attention. In point of fact, there hasn’t been a normal day in this cohort since one of you put a spear through the spine of your last prefect.’ If anyone had been dozing in the ranks before, it was certain that nobody was doing so now. ‘Until now, nobody in this cohort has taken the trouble to find the man that killed Prefect Bassus. By rights he should long since have been avenged by the penalty that military law demands of his murderer – public execution. It seems, however, that this cohort is content to brush its problems under the mat. Until today, that is. Today, Second Tungrians, that failure to act will be rectified in the most public way possible. Before you leave this parade ground I will know who killed him. Either that, or you’ll all rue the day you ever set eyes on him. I’ve sworn to Mars to take the murderer’s life as revenge for Bassus’s, sworn on an altar with witnesses and a noble sacrifice, with no way back from the promise. And I will, I promise you, exact revenge for him. How many more men die here alongside the prefect’s killer depends entirely on you.’
He took a breath and looked across their packed ranks, playing the moment out, feeling the tension crackling through the men arrayed in front of him.
‘Since I seem to be the only man seeking justice here, I’m going to need some help. I know that the first spear will stand alongside me, so now I want to know where the other officers stand. Any centurion that is willing to support justice for Prefect Bassus, stand forward three paces from your centuries.’
There was an instant ripple of movement, so fast that Furius suspected that his first spear had blown quietly in a few ears some time since he had first briefed the man as to what he intended. All ten of his officers stood forward of their men, having crossed, whether they realised it or not, their own personal Rubicons from which there would be no turning back.
‘Very good. At least this cohort’s officers recognise the enormity of the crime we’re going to take retribution for. So, we have one man out of the eight hundred of you facing me to expose. What will it take to make that happen? I wonder. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it for the last five weeks, ever since the moment I found out about my new command, and the way in which it became available.’ He paused for a moment, allowing a powerful silence to settle on the gathered soldiers. ‘Some years ago I served in the Moesian border wars with the Twelfth Thunderbolt. There was a unit with true Roman discipline.’ He stared across the cohort, sneering into his troops’ collective wide-eyed stare.
