This was certainly true, and I made nofurther comment about it. Finally, the first barrels were lowereddown the hole in the bow of the ship, and if the Brigantes were notaware of our presence, the shouts of relief and happiness thatcarried through the oar holes certainly did the job.
With one of our most pressing needssatisfied, the question I posed was, “Now what?”
“Now we wait until sunrise,” Ivomagussaid. “That will be more than enough time for the lord who rules inmy brother’s name to assemble his men to come to thevillage.”
He mentioned the man’s name, but I donot recall it, and I was more concerned with the men that this lordwould be bringing anyway. That, I thought, we’ll face tomorrow. Wewere still hungry; the last of the shared rations had beendistributed that morning, but just the idea that our ordeal mightbe coming to an end, or at least begin to end, did more to restoremorale than anything besides the water. While I was not overlyconcerned, I did set a guard on both decks, while the men who wereabovedeck were wearing their segmentata for the first time in almost twoweeks, with their shields, but no pila. I prowled above and below until themidnight watch, then retired to the cabin, where all Alex couldoffer me was a cup of water, my first. It was a point of pride thatI refrained, although I did try to not be ostentatious in myrefusal, but when Alex offered the cup, instead, I snatched thepitcher from his other hand and drained it. As far as water went,it was not good; muddy, and I could feel the grit against myteeth…but it was the best I ever tasted.
Ivomagus was once again correct; whenwe rowed upriver and the village came within sight, we could seethat there were far more than two hundred people standing on theriverbank next to the single wooden dock that, as we got closer,became more ramshackle, and even I could see there was no way thatit could accommodate a ship the size of ours. Nevertheless, thiswas a secondary consideration as far as I was concerned; my focuswas on what I estimated to be about four hundred people gatheredthere, and of those, how many were warriors. I had ordered bothCenturies to don their segmentataand had the First Century abovedeck, where they lined bothsides, with their shields grounded on the deck in front of them.This was definitely not what Cador or Motius had in mind, and theyargued vociferously that this would be viewed as an overt threat byRome on the Parisii, but I was unmoved, and said asmuch.
“Good,” I said flatly. “If they seewhat they’re up against, then maybe they’ll think twice if theythink they can attack us.”
Understanding that in this I would notchange my mind, Ivomagus was brought up on deck, and he wasescorted to the bow of the ship as we closed the final couple offurlongs, the Hortatorbeating a very slow rhythm that meant the slaves wouldstroke, then wait a beat before repeating, giving us just enoughspeed to maneuver but not enough to go smashing into their flimsydock. I was slightly relieved to see that, judging by appearance,there were only about a hundred warriors in this crowd, although Isupposed there could have been more hidden away in the cluster ofhuts that, to the eye, did not appear all that different from whatone would find in Germania or Gaul, with wattle and daub walls andthatched roofs. The civilians seemed to be evenly divided betweenmen and women, and once we were close enough to start seeing theirexpressions, my sense was that they were worried, but alsocurious.
Just when we got about a hundred paces fromthe dock, there was a sudden commotion, originating on the far sideof the village, as people who had been standing in the muddy stripthat intersected with the dock that served as the one street leaptto either side. Once they cleared the path, only then could we seethe cause, and it created a bit of a stir among the men as threechariots came thundering down the street, flinging mud in bothdirections.
“Chariots?” Saloninus exclaimed.“These bastards use chariots?”
He was standing next to me on the rear deck,and I experienced a momentary temptation to talk about the Britishchariots and the skill with which the tribes of Britannia couldhandle them, having read about this in the Prefect’s account, but Imanaged to refrain from showing off a bit.
Instead, all I said was, “Apparentlyso.”
Almost as if the driver had read mythoughts, the leading chariot appeared as if he intended to gallopstraight down the street and off the end of the dock into theriver, but with what I can only guess was perhaps a half-dozenpaces to spare, he hauled on the reins, the horses respondingimmediately, and with a tremendous shower of mud, slid to a stop sothat the front hooves of the pair of horses were just barelytouching the dock. Almost as impressive was the manner in which theother two fanned out, and while they both did the same thing oneither side, their chariots stopped so that they were both ahalf-length behind, and I was certain this was by design, as a wayto demonstrate to us their prowess.
“Well,” I told Saloninus, “I better goforward and see whether we’re going to be fighting ornot.”
I dropped down to the main deck, and as Imade my way forward, I called out, “All right, you bastards! Don’tdo anything stupid that might make these savages think we’re hereto start trouble. But,” I had reached the steep stairs to the upperdeck at the bow, so I called over my shoulder, “show them what afucking Legion of Rome looks like!”
There was a ragged chorus
