Hostage to Fortuna

he strode forward, I saw that he appeared to be in hislate thirties, perhaps a decade older than I was, with long,flowing mustaches of a slightly darker color than his chestnuthair. He wore a torq around his neck, which was partially obscuredby the clasp of the cloak around his shoulders, which was a deepgreen in color. What I found unusual was his tunic, which was notone color, but a pattern of a lighter green against the neutralwhitish color of his tunic. The pattern was geometric, nothing morethan green stripes that ran both vertically and horizontally toform squares of white, and I have no real idea why it struck me;perhaps it was just different. In fact, these Parisii on the wholewere more colorfully dressed than the German tribes, yet despitethese differences, it was easy to see the similarity between thetwo, as with the Gallic tribes. Cogidubnus was taller, and I hadthe uneasy feeling he might have been taller than I am, which waslater confirmed, but although his build was hidden by his clothing,I could see he was not as broad across the shoulders as I was,which made me feel better. What was most striking, however, was hisreaction when Ivomagus finally did turn and face the dock. Anydoubt about Ivomagus’ identity was erased by the manner in whichCogidubnus dropped to his knees, extended his arms towards us, andshouting something, of which I could only recognize “Ivomagus.”There was a moment where the Parisii king’s voice was the onlysound, but it only lasted a flicker of a moment because the peoplewitnessing this moment suddenly erupted in cheers. Even moretelling was Ivomagus’ reaction, the man also dropping to his kneesand covering his face with his hands as his shoulder wracked withsobs of what I can only assume was relief and happiness that, atlast, his ordeal might be over. I confess I was moved, and a quickglance at the pair of seamen told me they were no less affected,despite the knowledge that they were financially ruined.

I was determined to be the one with a clearhead, and as I helped Ivomagus to his feet, I told Cador andMotius, “Let’s hold off on the celebration. The next step is thatwe row over in your small boat to the dock.”

“Both of us?” Motius asked, and Irealized quickly enough that it was a valid question.

“No. We’re going to need someonecapable of handling this ship in the event things go wrong. So,” Ipointed at Motius, “you’re going with us.”

I could see that the fact that Cadordid not protest was not lost on Motius; nevertheless, the three ofus descended to the lower deck, Motius running ahead to alert thecrewmen to begin unlashing the small boat that was lashed to therear of the Brizo. When I sayit was small, that is what I mean; with a crewman handling thesingle pair of oars, while we could have fit one more man than thefour of us, it would have been a tight fit. Worst of all, at leastfrom my perspective, was that I could not stand up without rockingit excessively, so I had to suffer the indignity of sitting on thebench next to Ivomagus, and once we were a sufficient distanceaway, his stench was no longer covered by the collective stink ofa trireme crammed full offilthy slaves and almost as filthy Legionaries, and I tried tostifle my gagging, but I was unsuccessful. Thankfully, Ivomagus wasmore amused than anything.

“Centurion, would you care to wager onwhat the first thing I intend to do is once we meet my brother andmake the necessary arrangements?”

His tone as much as the words made mechuckle, but I demurred. “No, I think I have a fairly good ideawhat it will be. Now,” I nudged him in the ribs, “as far as thesecond? I think I have an idea about that as well.”

He laughed, but then we were pulling up tothe dock, and as the crewman brought us alongside, I realized wehad not discussed how this was going to work, but when Ivomagus wasthe first to move and hop onto the dock, I made no attempt to stophim. Instead, I followed him, choosing to stand there as Ivomagusapproached his brother. The pair of them stood there, looking ateach other for what seemed to be a long time but was probably nomore than one or two heartbeats before they practically threwthemselves together, wrapping their arms around each other asIvomagus, being a bit shorter, buried his head in his brother’sshoulder. Even if I could have understood them, I think they wouldhave been unintelligible because of the way they babbled at thesame time, and just as the first time they laid eyes on each othermoments before, it was a moving scene, and it was quite loud. Womenwere wailing, and there were men who were openly weeping at thesight, and I do not believe I have ever felt more awkward than Ifelt during that moment. Motius was standing beside me, and I couldsense him shifting uncomfortably as we were temporarily forgotten.Then Cogidubnus said something that made Ivomagus laugh, and heturned to address me loudly enough for me to hear.

“My brother just made the samecomplaint that you did, Centurion! He says I stink so badly, it ismaking his eyes water!” It was neatly done, and it gave me aglimpse into their relationship, as the younger brother offered me,a stranger and potential enemy, an excuse for the tears streamingdown the face of the Parisii king. Ivomagus also used it as theappropriate moment to introduce us, beckoning to me to approach,which I did, and there was a moment where Ivomagus was turnedtowards me and could not see his brother’s eyes, although I couldbecause we were looking directly at each other, and there wasnothing friendly there in his gaze. Naturally, I had worn my fulluniform, including my decorations, which Alex had polished thenight before in anticipation of this meeting, along with applyingmore dye to my red crest that signifies my rank as a Pilus Prior,but I had decided to leave the vitus behind, deciding that it would have nomeaning on non-Romans,