Hostage to Fortuna

of heartbeats for me to gather mywits enough to have a basic idea of our situation. Cotta had onehand on me, but his other arm was wrapped around the end of thetree that we were hauling back across the river, which explainedwhy I was still such a good distance from the boat. Once Idetermined this, only then did I turn my attention back towards theBrigantes side of the river, except that I was having troubleseeing out of one eye because it had what I assumed was river waterin it, but when I reached up to wipe it, I instantly could tell bythe stickiness that it was blood, forcing me to use just one eye.It was enough to see that several of the Brigantes, still onhorseback had plunged into the shallow water, a couple up to theirhorses’ bellies, where they were shouting all manner of things atus. Thankfully, they were not swimming their horses after us, and Isuspect that even if I had the use of both of my eyes, I would nothave noticed that their attention was not actually on us. WithCotta’s help, I was able to gain a purchase on the tree, the roughbark scraping my arm as I hugged the trunk, and it was just as Iwas doing so when I was alerted by a shout from Acisculus.

“The boys are coming back!”

I had been looking back behind us, andbecause of my position, it was somewhat difficult for me to turn mybody enough so that the eye that was not filled with blood couldlook downriver. And, if Motius had not attached a lantern to theprow as I had ordered for their return, I would not have seen it asthey approached Petuar. By the time the men had paddled the boatacross the river, I was already shivering violently from the coldwater, and I could hear Cotta’s teeth chattering. Then, finally, myfeet touched the muddy bottom, and I released my grip on the tree,emerging from the water, Cotta following me as I staggered ashore.I was extremely dizzy, but I tried to hide it as I reached the edgeof the dock, Acisculus guiding the boat back into its former spot,not that we thought the theft would go unnoticed. It took two triesfor me to step up onto the wooden dock, then I felt Cotta’s hand onmy back, giving me a boost, but I made sure to turn about and offermy arm to pull him up.

“You know that you’re not going tohave to worry about being put on cac duty for the foreseeable future.”

He laughed at this, but I could also seethat he was pleased, then he pointed to my head, “That’s a nastygash, Pilus Prior. You’ll probably need to have it sewn up.”

Cotta was right on both accounts, butother events occurred that meant it would not be seen to for theimmediate future. First, the Brizowas approaching the dock while Acisculus supervised the menof the working party as they dragged the tree out of the water, soI began making my way to the spot where Motius would moor the ship.I could see the shapes of my men on deck, and I wondered what theyhad to be thinking after essentially doing nothing but donningtheir armor, getting on the ship, rowing downstream then anchoringout in the river for perhaps a watch, then turning around andreturning. The plank was dropped, and immediately, Gemellus led theFirst down the plank and onto the dock. Thanks to the torchlight,my gashed scalp was clearly visible, which Gemellus immediatelynoticed, forgetting to salute in the process.

“What happened to you, Pilus Prior?”He sounded so concerned that I did not feel right about snapping athim about his lapse, and I briefly explained what hadtranspired.

Saloninus arrived before I had finished, andwhile he did not hear everything, he heard the important point as Ipointed to the tree that was still dripping water onto thedock.

“We got the mast,” I toldthem.

“Weren’t we supposed to get two? Orthree?” Saloninus asked, and this time, I could not restrainmyself.

“I fucking know how many we weresupposed to bring back, but we got intercepted by some of thosefucking Brigantes that you were supposed to draw away!” Even as Isaid it, I knew it was unfair, so before Saloninus could respond, Iheld up a hand. “I apologize, Aulus. I didn’t mean to imply you andthe boys are at fault in any way. It was just one of those things,nothing more.” I went on to describe what had taken place and howwe had been forced to cut loose the second candidate for a new mastfrom the sledge to enable us to have a chance to escape. “All inall,” I concluded, “we were fortunate. Gallus is hurt, but I don’tknow how badly.”

“And you,” Saloninus pointed at myhead.

“I really wish you’d stop reminding meof that,” I grumbled. “Every time I forget about it, someone isbringing it up.”

“Well,” Saloninus grinned at me, whichI understood, because he was facing me so that he could see Alexcoming at a trot, “I think you might not want to forget about itright now, because you’re about to be…”

“Pilus Prior!”

The sound of Alex’s voice made me groan,knowing what was coming, and while I turned around to face him, itwas reluctantly. And, not surprisingly, he came to an abrupt stop,staring up at my head.

“What did you do toyourself?”

To my ears, he sounded as if he was accusingme of something.

“Why do you think I did it to myself?”I protested. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

“I know you,” he shot back, completelyunconvinced. “I won’t be surprised to find out that you didsomething stupid, like attack a band of those barbarians all byyourself!”

This was not exactly what had taken place, but I knew that bythe time the men of the working party were done, this would beprecisely how it would be told, that I had attacked a warband offifty Brigantes warriors on my own, so I did not even attempt toargue.

It helped the situation with Alex that thegods decided to intervene, and it was Saloninus who correctlypointed out, “I think that’s about to be the least of yourconcerns,