The barbarian was silent for a long moment.
‘And Alauna? Tell you, Harn insult goddess. You fight for Alauna?’
Arminius laughed again, a deep chuckle this time.
‘Already he’s bargaining with you. I like this man!’
Marcus smiled wryly at the warrior, raising an eyebrow.
‘I expect my tribune is going to want to deal with Harn and his men before we march north. Although just how we’re going to get inside those walls is beyond me.’
To his surprise, Lugos snorted derisively.
‘You forget lesson from Carvetii fort. Get inside not the problem.’
Tribune Licinius stood on the slopes of the hill overlooking the former Roman fortress of Three Mountains, his horse happily cropping the lush grass while he gazed down at the abandoned fort below.
‘The buildings have all been burned out all right, but the walls still look stout enough. I suppose Calgus was in too much of a hurry to get south to do anything other than torch the place and keep moving, which has played well enough for him now that he’s forced to fall back on…’
He stopped in mid-sentence, pointing down at a huddle of men toiling at something outside the fort’s walls.
‘You’ve got better eyes than me. What in Hades do you think they’re doing?’
The decurion at his side squinted down at the warriors on the flat ground five hundred feet below them.
‘It looks like they’re… digging? Yes, they’re definitely trying to unearth something. There, that group are dragging something up from their pit. It looks like… like…’
‘Like a sack full of salted meat, perhaps?’ Licinius’s voice was rich with irony. The decurion looked round at him, uncertain of his meaning. ‘And there was me thinking that Calgus had met his match, that he’d lost his edge in the face of our overwhelming force. Just one day later I discover that not only does he have enough wits left about him to guide a Venicone warband clean out of the trap we’ve laid for them, but he also had the foresight not very long ago to have food stored here, just in case he was forced to retreat this way. King Drust had best be very careful that he hasn’t got a snake by the tail.’
Rapax strolled up to the north gate to find his man waiting with the two released prisoners, both men fully equipped with arms and armour and sporting pensive looks.
‘Well, well, Smartarse and Granny Fucker, don’t you both look pretty.’ He nodded to the guardsman. ‘Very good. The stores didn’t give you any problems, then?’
The guardsman grimaced, shaking his head dismissively.
‘If you’ve met one storeman, you’ve met them all. A touch of the whip always has them running.’
Rapax smiled knowingly.
‘Good, well done. Right, you two, let’s go for a little walk, shall we?’
He led the three men through the gate, ignoring the surprised looks from the soldiers on guard at the sight of such a small party walking out on to what was, for the time being, tribal ground, and opened out his stride once the wicket gate was closed behind them.
‘Come along, then, the pair of you, let’s see how fit you are.’
Half an hour later, marching to the east after the long climb from Noisy Valley to meet the military road that ran along the line of the Wall, and with both men panting horribly under the unaccustomed load of their weapons and armour, he allowed their pace to fall back to a normal march, enjoying the burning sensation in his calves after so long without proper exercise.
‘Feeling a bit tired, are we, gentlemen? Perhaps we ought to take a breather. Follow me!’ He led them away from the road, and through the trees until he found a small clearing that would suit his purpose perfectly. ‘Let’s stop here for a little while, shall we? Relax. Take the load off your feet. There’s no need for ceremony now, you’ve shown that you can drive along at the forced march with a full load, so just take it easy for a moment or two.’
He watched the two soldiers out of the corner of his eye as they slumped to the ground, both allowing their shields and helmets to lie on the grass, while the guardsman stayed on his feet and with a hand on his spear, knowing what was coming. The rapist lay back on the ground, dragging his breath in noisily with his eyes closed, while the murderer sat with his back against a fallen tree and his eyes searching the clearing, clearly equally exhausted but retaining enough awareness of his surroundings to have a curious eye on the centurion stood before him.
‘So, soldiers, a rude reintroduction to the military pace, eh? Feeling nicely exercised, are we? Ready for your next test?’
The murderer’s eyes narrowed, while his fellow convict lifted his head slightly to look up at the officer. Rapax smiled broadly, enjoying himself for the first time in several days.
‘Your next test, gentlemen, is very simple. It is a test of your stamina, your skill at arms, but most of all it is a test of how well you listen and how well you respond to orders. The instructions for the test are very simple, but you’re only going to hear them once so fucking listen!’ The murderer tensed his body, ready to jump to his feet, while the rapist propped himself up on his elbows, looking puzzled at the sudden change in Rapax’s demeanour.
‘I’ve brought you both here for a reason, you maggots. For your next test there is only one instruction, and that is that very soon one of you is going to be the last man standing, while the other one is going to be a bleeding corpse. Go to it!’
He stepped back from them, watching the comprehension forming on the rapist’s face even as the murderer pulled the sword from his belt and threw himself full length across the clearing to punch the blade through his rival’s armour, and deep into his guts. He smiled quietly with the doomed man’s first scream of outraged agony, watching as the victorious soldier ripped the blade free and thrust it into the rapist’s throat to finish him off, a thick stream of blood bubbling in the dying man’s windpipe. The victor stood up and turned to face him, his face fixed in the snarl that he had worn from the second that the meaning of Rapax’s instructions had sunk into his brain. The centurion stepped forward into sword-reach without a hint of concern and took the bloody weapon out of his hands, patting him on his blood-spattered cheek.
‘Good boy! Maximus, wasn’t it? I think you’re going to be rather good at this.’
Calgus smiled quietly to himself as the first load of meat was carried in through the shattered fort’s empty gate arches. Drust was standing alongside him, with a look on his face that combined irritation and relief.
‘Well, Drust, there’s my end of the bargain satisfied. I took the cavalry off your back for long enough to get into the shelter of these walls without any further attacks, I led you to the one place for fifty miles where you can hold off an army, never mind a few hundred tired horsemen, and I’ve provided you with enough meat to put your men back on their feet ready to deal with anything those fools can throw at you tomorrow. I trust I can now depend on you to keep to your word, and that I’ll be safe with your tribe for as long as I seek shelter with you?’
The Venicone leader nodded his assent, watching as his men lugged their heavy burdens into the fort and dropped them in front of the waiting warriors.
‘You’ll have a place with us for as long as you wish, provided you keep yourself to yourself. If I get any hint that you’re making the slightest attempt to undermine me, however, I’ll have you nailed up for the Romans to find when we leave this place. Do we have an understanding?’
Calgus nodded slowly.
‘Yes, Drust, I think we understand each other perfectly. And when will we be leaving?’
The Venicone king looked about him, as if taking stock of the fort’s stout stone walls.
‘You buried enough meat to feed every man here for days, and the river will provide for our water needs, so I see no need to break camp until the day after tomorrow at the earliest. Those cavalry fools can stand on that hill and stare down at us all they like, they’ll never dare to try forcing their way in here with so few men. Perhaps they’ll get bored and leave us in peace…’ He paused, looking quizzically at Calgus’s face. ‘What?’
The other man shrugged.
‘Nothing really, I was just wondering if there might be some value in sending out a few of your sharper men after dark to have a quiet look at their encampment. With a little bit of luck they might even take a captive.’
Drust nodded slowly, raising his eyebrows in appreciation of the idea.
‘A Roman prisoner. Information and sport for my men, something to take their minds off their surroundings. You might have something there.’
The sun was well below the western horizon by the time Marcus and his companions had found the
