“Are you going to wear your tunic?”Alex asked, but I could only shrug because I did notknow.
“I suppose we’ll wait to see whatBerdic does.”
We did not have long to wait, because fromoutside the hall, a chorus of voices suddenly began shouting, and Icould hear his name being called out. When he entered, we saw thathe was stripped to the waist, wearing just his trousers, his hairhad been pulled back tightly against the back of his skull, acommon trick used by men who wrestle or participate in some sort ofgrappling combat. I did not believe I had to worry about that,having adopted my father’s habit of keeping my hair closely shorn,although it was longer than it had been in some time, but it wasstill too short for me to tie back. Of more concern was the waythat Berdic’s upper body glistened in the torchlight.
“He’s oiled himself,” Alex spoke up,seeing the same thing. “If he did it, you should too.”
It was a good suggestion; of course, thatmeant I ignored it.
“No, I don’t need to resort to thosetricks,” I shook my head, then pulled off my tunic so that I wasonly in my bracae, which wereat least mine and not the ones made by Esselt, but Alex persisted,“It’s not a trick, Gnaeus. I mean, it is a trick, but because it works. You won’t beable to grapple with him, but he’ll have no trouble grabbing holdof you if you don’t do it!”
I believe that I am not unique inhaving moments in my life that, if I had them to do over again, Iwould do things differently, and this is certainly one of them, butmy pride had stepped in, and I was so intent on providing ademonstration, a realdemonstration of Rome’s power that I stubbornly refused toheed good advice. Alex gave a snort of frustration when I onlyshook my head, muttering something about stupid men that he knew,but my attention was already focusing on Berdic and only Berdic,watching how he was moving now as he accepted what I assumed werethe well wishes of his fellow tribespeople. I did take some comfortthat his normal swaggering demeanor was nowhere in evidence, and ifanything, he looked somber. He’s nervous, I thought to myself, buthard on the heels of this came a sharp retort, albeit inside myhead, reminding me; So are you, you idiot. It was difficult becausenow all four sides of this makeshift square were packed with theoccupants, while Ivomagus had ordered some slaves to clear ourtable then place Cogidubnus’ and his chair on it so that the pairwould have an unobstructed view. Men were looking over theirshoulder at me, and I caught a glimpse of Tincommius on the farside of the square, who was one of the few Parisii who did not seemto be looking forward to what was coming. Berdic swung over one ofthe overturned tables to step into the square, and it was time forme to do the same.
“Gnaeus,” Alex interrupted mythoughts, and when I looked down at him, his expression was asgrave as I have ever seen it. “I don’t know why you’re doing this,but it’s clearly important to you. So,” the bump in his throatbobbed, but his voice turned hard and implacable, “beat thiscunnus so that we can get out ofthis fucking place.”
I said nothing, or I do not recall it, onlynodding, then pushed my way through those who were too slow to geta prime spot around the tables. This is what you wanted, Gnaeus,now it’s time to do what you must do.
I was surprised when, from up on the table,Cogidubnus called to me, and when I looked up, he indicated that hewanted me up there with him. Ivomagus was there, on his other side,so I hopped up, uncertain what was expected of me, but I got myanswer almost immediately.
“My brother wants to askyou a question,” he said. When I nodded, they had a short exchange,and Ivomagus made a gesture, explaining, “It will have to wait amoment. My brother has something to say to his people.”
Cogidubnus stood up, which served to quietthe crowd instantly, whereupon he began speaking. Since I could notunderstand what was being said, I had to observe the crowd, but thefirst thing the king ordered was that both Berdic and Gnaeus besearched by one of his men; later, Gnaeus told me that it wasperformed by one of the guards who he had become friendly with andwas not allied with Berdic. I also used the time to get a betteridea of the nature of the square in which Gnaeus found himself withBerdic. The tables had been overturned, but with the legs facingoutward, lined up together on four sides to form a square roughlyten paces by ten paces, which sounds like a lot, but when two menthe size of Gnaeus and Berdic are in it, very quickly, it becameapparent that this was not much room to maneuver. Gnaeus wasstanding opposite Berdic, with his back to me, and I heardCogidubnus mention Berdic’s name first, which elicited a roar fromthe small crowd, many of the men shaking their fists, and I beganto worry that some of these “onlookers” would take a more activerole than they should. I was quite surprised when I heard “Pullus”that, while there were certainly no cheers for him, many of thefaces I could see in the torchlight did not bear any sign ofhostility, and the man I now knew was Tincommius looked extremelyunhappy. Cogidubnus
