Somewhat to my surprise, Ivomagus stood andindicated the bench on the opposite side of the table, saying only,“Please take a seat, Centurion Pullus.”
I certainly was not going to disobey,but just as I had the first time, I chose to straddle the bench,with my gladius on theopposite side of the table, and I saw that Ivomagus did not missthis.
“We,” he began, “have some matters todiscuss.”
Despite the gravity of the moment, I had tosmile at his understatement, but I did not hesitate to agree, “Yes,we do, Ivomagus.”
“Perhaps,” he began, and his voiceturned cold, “you can explain what happened today.”
So I told him everything, and I told him thetruth. As I did so, I studied his expression, but while Ivomagusmay not have been a king, he was from the royal house of theParisii, and just like our patricians, he had been trained frombirth to never, ever let his true thoughts and emotions show,unless he chose to do so. He listened closely but said nothinguntil I was through.
After a span of several heartbeats, Ivomagusasked, “And why did you not wait until my brother was back? Why didyou feel that you had to carry out this…plan of yours?”
“Because I had no confidence that yourbrother would make the right decision,” I answered withouthesitation.
It would make sense that my response angeredIvomagus; that it did not was immediately apparent, at least to me,and it strengthened my belief that Ivomagus was not as convincedthat Cogidubnus should be the one wearing the crown as he liked toportray.
“Why do you say that?” he askedinstead.
“Every day that we stay here,” Ianswered immediately and honestly, “the risk of something badhappening increases.”
“’Something bad’?” He cocked his head.“Please explain what you mean.”
“I know that there are men among theParisii who are trying to convince your brother that we should beslaughtered,” I said. Then I twisted slightly so that I could pointdirectly at the black-bearded warrior, who I had seen enter thehall out of the corner of my eye after I sat down. “Men like him,”I continued, making sure I looked him directly in the eye. Then Ideliberately turned away from him back to Ivomagus, savoring thelook of outrage on his face as I did so. “But, Ivomagus, you needto hear me when I say this. If your brother listens to those men,and he attacks us,” I hated myself for admitting, “yes, you willundoubtedly slaughter us to the last man. But,” I said harshly, “Iswear to you, by both your gods and those of Rome, not only willevery one of my men kill at least two Parisii, but before a yearpasses, you will see the full might of Rome descend on you and yourpeople, and our Imperator will not rest until the Parisii tribe isnothing but a memory.” Before he could respond, I went on, “I amtrying to get my men back home, away from Britannia, and withoutlosing any more men or having to kill those with whom we have noquarrel. So,” I concluded, “I made the decision that it was betterto risk a fight with the Brigantes in order to be ready to leave ina couple of days than it was to spend more than a week here wherewe’re not wanted.”
Oh, I knew I was running a risk with this,declaring the power of Rome and our ability to destroy an entiretribe, but as harsh as it may have been, I was simply reciting afact, and I counted on Ivomagus to know enough about us torecognize this was true, and more importantly, to not let his pridedictate his response. For a span of several heartbeats, I wasworried that I was wrong, as Ivomagus’ face darkened, his mouthtwisted into what I took to be a snarl, but it was how he half roseoff his bench that caused my right hand to drop from the table intomy lap. Then he took a deep breath and let it out very slowly as hesank back down onto his bench.
“Perhaps,” he allowed, “there is truthin what you say. But,” his voice hardened slightly, “by doing asyou did, you understand that you risked the peace between my peopleand the Brigantes?”
“I do,” I acknowledged, which seemedto surprise him. “But I did not see any otheralternative.”
“You could have waited until mybrother, the King,” heemphasized, “returned tomorrow, then discussed this matter withhim.”
“And,” I asked quietly, “whatguarantee do I have that Cogidubnus will be heretomorrow?”
This made him flush, but he persisted, “Evenif he does not return tomorrow, you should have waited. After all,”he spread his hands out, “what more does a day or two matter?”
“I just explained why,” I countered,and while I did not point at the black-bearded warrior again, I sawhe understood my meaning.
Nothing was said for the span of severalheartbeats, then Ivomagus broke the silence. “It is not my decisionto make, Centurion. But,” he admitted, reluctantly if I am anyjudge, “I cannot say that I do not see why you behaved in themanner you did.”
I made a mistake then, when I pressed, “Soyou’ll talk to your brother about this? And you’ll tell him that Ihad no choice?”
I saw I had erred by the manner in which hestiffened.
“I said no such thing,” he repliedcoldly. “I merely stated that I understand why you acted as youdid.”
“We did get a mast,” I pointed outhelpfully. “And we’ll start work on repairing the ship and placingthe mast at first light.”
“That,” he answered icily, “will be upto my brother.”
“You mean that you’re not going toallow us to begin work until he returns?” I gasped. “Why? Whatpossible harm could come from allowing us to startwork?”
“Because,” he replied evenly andwithout hesitation, “as you pointed out, while we expect my brothertomorrow, he is the King andcan come and go as he pleases. If you make your repairs and thenleave
