“I…I do not know, exactly, Centurion.”There was no mistaking the nervousness now, but I had to remindmyself that pitching him overboard would not help matters, so Ileaned over him, causing him to do the opposite as I said with asmuch menace as I could, “That’s not a good answer, youcunnus. You,” I jabbed him in thechest with my finger, and while he was still nervous, I could tellthis angered him, but I did not care, “are responsible fordelivering two Centuries of the Fourth Cohort of the1st Legion safely to our campin Ubiorum, so I don’t want to hear your excuses!Now…where the fuck arewe?”
Even as I bellowed this, I realized it mightnot be a good idea; I did not think it was possible, but I didwonder if my men below might have heard.
“It would be easier to show you thanto try and explain where I thinkwe are, Centurion,” Cador managed to answer. When I relentedin my posture, he obviously took this as a sign. “We need to gobelow to the cabin you are using. That is where Vellocatus storeshis maps.”
My initial reaction was one of chagrin,thinking this was something that should have occurred to me and Icould have examined the map myself, but I immediately realized thatit would not matter because I had no idea where we were. I gesturedto Cador, and he headed for the ladder, snapping something in hisnative tongue, which I assumed were orders to stay put since theother men did not move. He led the way, and while I had seenmembers of the crew do it before, I envied the ease with whichCador dropped down into the hold, catching the ladder not by arung, but by both sides with his hands, while placing his feetalong the sides as well, sliding down in a fraction of the time ittook someone like me to clamber down. The cabin door was open,where Cador was fumbling with the lamp, striking a spark to lightit, the lamp coming to life and filling the cabin with light.
Understandably, the crews of any shipplying the seas and rivers are very careful about fire; in fact,when we were on the rivers the year before, the ship master alwayspulled to the riverbank to cook our meals. At sea, this is notfeasible, so we had been required to bake enoughcastra panerii for a week’s voyage,and the men were subsisting on that and salted pork, forgoing thenormal soldier’s porridge. The fact that we were now well into ourfourth day had crossed my mind, but it was not a pressing worry…forthe next few heartbeats.
Now that there was light, Cador opened asmall chest that, like the desk, was secured to the deck, which Ihad never opened since this was not my cabin. I had understood whyVellocatus was unhappy about being required to shift for himself,but this has been the custom since long before I showed up; Isuppose it is just another way Rome has of reminding others who shevalues more. Cador extracted a rolled parchment, and I wassurprised at how small it was, but when he laid it out on the desk,I instantly could see that the map covered the northern coast ofGermania and Gaul to a fair level of detail. At the top, there wasthe outline of the lands in the frozen north, but that was all, andI certainly noticed that Cador’s finger was shaking as he pointedto a spot…on the desk, not on the map.
“As nearly as I can tell, Centurion,we are out in the open waters of what is called the MareGermanicum. We must have been blown off course in the first storm.Then,” he became uneasy, “it appears as if we are headed away fromGermania, not towards it.”
I was not even angry, at least in thatmoment; in simple terms, I was too shocked and dismayed for mytemper to flare. Indeed, I staggered over to the stool behind thedesk and collapsed onto it, barely noticing the cracking sound thatusually accompanies someone of my size dropping onto a piece offurniture designed for a lighter man. My mouth was hanging open,yet I could not seem to summon the strength to shut it, but whileAlex was clearly as shaken as I was, he recovered more quickly.
“So now that we know which directionto go, how long before we reach land? And,” he pressed,“where do you think we willend up?”
“If I am correct, by rowing directlysouth, we should hit somewhere around the mouth of the Scaldis(Scheldt) River.”
“The Scaldis?” I had managed to shutmy mouth, but I could not summon any information from the map wecarry in our memory. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s more than a hundred miles westof the Rhenus,” Alex interjected.
“Fuck me.” I felt it slip out before Icould stop myself.
Before I could say anything else, Alexreminded me, “And that’s if Cador is correct.” Addressing Cador, myclerk asked, “When will you know whether you’re right orwrong?”
We got the answer by the way his eyes keptshifting nervously from Alex to me, which showed me he was not atotal fool.
Realizing we expected an answer, heswallowed hard then said, “At least a full day, provided we headdue south.”
“Well,” I stood up, and the hand I puton his shoulder squeezed hard enough to be rewarded with a wince,“then we don’t have any time to waste, do we?”
“You want to begin now?” Cador gasped.“In the dark?”
“You can see the stars, can’t you?” Isnapped. “Don’t tell me that you can’t figure out south from northwith the stars!”
“No, Centurion! I can! It is justthat…it is more complicated than that.” When I did not break in, hehurried on, “There are tides to consider, and the prevailing windat this time of the year is from the south and they are
