“You,” I said with a smile,“still look like someonerammed their cock up your ass and you weren’t expectingit.”
This was not unusual; indeed, this waswhat I said to Gorteryn every time he was my guard, but since I didit with a smile and jocular tone, as always, he simply nodded, notunderstanding this small attempt on my part to have some fun. And,as I always did, I leapt up and onto the horse’s back without usingmy hands, hearkening back to the first day I had done it with myhands bound behind me. I led the way down the track, passing ourcamp, which, for whatever reason, the Parisii had chosen to keepintact, depriving the townspeople of some pastureland. I had askedIvomagus why, but he could only shrug and offer that it was hisbrother’s decision to leave it. It was the day after a market day,so I did not anticipate there being the same problem with Bronwen,but the gods had other ideas in mind, because she was almostliterally the first person I saw when I rode into the town square.She was actually turned slightly away from me so that I could onlysee the right side of her face, and she did not see me arrive. Thistime, she was talking to two other women around her age, one ofwhom I assumed was Verica, who was very pretty in her own right,but when she laughed at something one of the other two said, inwhat appeared to be a natural manner, she turned her head to scanthe area around her. It is something I am certain we all do as weare talking to friends, looking around yourself, and as I said,she was laughing as she didso. However, when she turned so that I could see the enormous blackeye on her left side, she just happened to see me at the sameinstant I saw her. I cannot say what was in her mind, but I knowwhat was in mine, and I reacted instantly, swinging my leg over thehorse, landing on the hardpacked ground and striding over to her inone continuous motion. Something in my face must have been thecause for the manner in which the handful of townspeople betweenus, almost all women, scrambled out of my path, and those looks ofadmiration and appreciation to which I had become accustomed werenowhere in evidence. Only Bronwen did not flee, choosing instead toturn slightly so that she was facing me directly, and she stood herground, tilting her chin up in a manner that suggested some form ofdefiance, but I saw the expression in her eyes.
“Who did this?” I demanded, not evenbothering to ask her what had happened or how, so certain wasI.
“It does not matter, Centurion,” sheanswered me, still with her face set in the kind of expression thatrelayed that she was not going to run or argue. “And,” she saidicily, “it is none of your business, if we are beinghonest.”
I am afraid that I ignored everything comingout of her mouth, because I had one thing, and one thing only in mymind.
“Was it Berdic?” I asked, and when shedid not immediately respond, I repeated, “Did he dothis?”
“It does not matter,” she repeated,but I saw her eyes flick away from me, and I heard the poundingfootsteps of someone running, and when I glanced over my shoulder,I saw that it was Gorteryn. Just before he reached me, she droppedher voice to a whisper as she begged, “Please, Gnaeus. I beg you!Do not do anything about this!”
Then Gorteryn was standing next to me, andas angry as I may have been, I was amused to see that his normallydour demeanor was nowhere in sight; if anything, he looked like hewould rather have been fighting a wolf barehanded. I spun about,not saying a word to Bronwen, and stalked off, feeling the eyes ofevery person in the square watching me, and I realized; They’rewaiting for me to explode, to do something that they can tell theirfamily and friends they witnessed. In a somewhat odd twist, thisdid more to calm me down than anything else, but I had no desire tostay in town, and not even Esselt’s cooking could entice me. Ileapt onto my horse, and without a word to either Parisii, I kickedthe animal into a trot, heading for the northern gate. We were justfifty paces away when, from behind us, a horn sounded, somethingthat I had learned was unusual. Unlike Romans, the Parisii weremuch more relaxed when it came to marking time, so I knew that thishorn-sounding was because there was something happening.
My initial intention was to keep going, butboth Gorteryn and Versuccius reined in their mounts, so I somewhatreluctantly turned my horse around. What I saw were people, mostlythe people who had been gossiping in the town square, rushing awayfrom it, but heading towards the dock. Thinking about it later, Ibelieve this was the first moment the idea occurred to me thatwhatever this was might involve me, and just as I had kicked myhorse into a trot to leave, now I did the same, but heading in theopposite direction. Because of the buildings of the town, it wasnot until I got past them that I was able to look downriver, andthe sight my eyes took in caused my heart to skip a beat. It was aship, although even from this distance, I could see that it was nota ship of the type that had transported the Legions back to theRhenus, being much wider, but the oars on both sides lowered,raised, and lowered in a steady rhythm as it made its way upstream,the mark of a well-trained crew. I guided my horse down to thedock, where the crane still stood and, as far as I know, is stillstanding, dismounting to walk out onto the wooden portion.
Ships did come to Petuar; during mytime there, at least one ship a week came from downriver, the mostpotent sign that it was from across the channel, but it was alwaysa bit of an occasion. Despite having witnessed it before, I couldsee this time
