“Because we will have something tobargain with,” he explained. “Remember I told you I had sailed withVellocatus three years ago.” I nodded, and he continued, “On thevoyage, many of the slaves grew sick with the bloody flux. We lostso many that we were mainly using our sail to make it the rest ofthe way to Britannia. And,” he shrugged, “we needed slaves.” Hesuddenly smiled, but I sensed a melancholy quality to it, which Iunderstood when he said, “Vellocatus was furious because we had touse almost all of the profit from that voyage just to buy enoughslaves to power the ship.” The light from the lamp caught thesudden glint of tears, and for a moment, I worried that Motius’grief for his brother would cause him to renege on his promise, buthe barely glanced at Cador as he went on, “The tribes of Britanniaare always at war with each other, and they have the same custom oftaking slaves as everyone else. And,” now he smiled, “it just sohappened that there had been a battle between the Iceni and theParisii not long before, so the slave market was filled withParisii warriors.” Suddenly, he jerked a thumb over his shouldertowards the main compartment. “Almost half of our crew areParisii.”
“And,” I mused, “you’re planning onoffering those men in exchange for safety and their help in makingrepairs and resupplying.”
“Yes, Centurion,” he nodded, then heldup a hand, “but I must warn you of something. While I am certain ofour general position and where we are in relation to the estuary,it is entirely possible that we are north of it, so we may have tofollow the coast south to find it, because we do not want to landin Brigantes land with Parisii aboard, even if they areslaves.”
The next challenge that faced me was whetherto tell the men, but fairly quickly, I was persuaded that it wasbest to inform them, if only to help soften the blow.
“I think they’re going to react badlyno matter when we tell them,” was how Saloninus put it, “but whenthey finally see land and that’s when we tell them it’s fuckingBritannia that they’re looking at?” He shook his head, and while hesaid it in a joking manner, I knew he was at least partly seriouswhen he finished. “You and I will probably be swimming the rest ofthe way if we want to keep our skin.”
Now, I did not, nor do I think Saloninusbelieved that our men would actually physically attack us, but Itook his larger point and agreed with it. Nevertheless, I could notresist having some fun at his expense.
“Well,” I grinned, “if you think I’mgoing in there and tell them by myself, you’re mad. Besides,” Iadded as I opened the door, “you’re the Pilus Posterior now, so youshould address your boys, not me.”
Saloninus did not appear to enjoy my humor,but the others chuckled, although I know they were every bit astense when we entered the compartment. The hammocks were back intheir normal spots, and most of the men were in them, resting fromtheir exertions, while the slaves were back on their benches. Theyhad been allowed to stop rowing, and some of them were stillslurping the slop that served as their meal from the wooden bowlsthat were distributed, then taken back up, while others hadfinished and were lying on their bench.
From just behind me, Alex asked, “Is it wiseto tell the men down here? Should you take them up on deck?”
“Why?” I asked, not understanding hisconcern.
“Because of where we’re headed. ThoseParisii slaves may not know our tongue, but they’re going tounderstand,” he lowered his voice, “the word Britannia.”
That, I realized, was true, but then after aheartbeat of thinking about it, I shook my head.
“Actually, I think it will work in ourfavor. If they know they’re going home, that’s likely to make themwilling to work even harder, even if they don’t know about Motius’plan to exchange them for help and safe passage. Besides,” I addedmy main reason for doing it down below, “if we take the men ondeck, even if we warn them to keep their mouths shut, the chancesare that they’re going to have something to say, and you know soundcarries over water farther than over land. I know we’ve supposedlylost those bastards chasing us, but I’m not willing to take thatrisk.”
He said nothing, but the others nodded;whether it was because they agreed or that they were accepting myorder did not really matter. Naturally, our entrance into thecompartment had drawn the attention of the men nearest to the doorwho were still awake, and even in the darkness, I could see thestir of movement as they alerted the comrade next to them thatsomething was happening. The only light was the reflection from themoon off the water that filtered through the oar holes, Cadorforbidding the lighting of the lamps for the same reason I did notwant the men on deck. Saloninus went with me as we walked down thewalkway to about the middle of the ship, where we waited a few moreheartbeats to give the men time to rouse themselves. I supposedfrom their viewpoint, we were just two dark shapes, but I feltconfident they knew it was me and Saloninus.
Taking a deep breath, I began, “WhatI’m about to tell you is going to come as a shock, so I want you toprepare yourselves. The more noise you make means that the chancethat those cunni chasing uswho might still be nearby could actually find us if you dosomething stupid like shout. Is that understood?” The instant thewords came out of my mouth, I winced, thinking, you stupid bastard,you know how they’re trained to respond when I ask a question.Fortunately, while they did answer, it was more of a rustle ofmurmurs than the normal kind of barked response, which I took as apositive sign, but there was only one way to find out, so Icontinued, “Because we had to move away from the coast in order toescape those pirates, we’re now at a point where we had to make
