“But why would you offer your help?”he persisted, and my patience, which has never been my strength,evaporated to the point where I shot back, “Because I think you’rein over your head, and I don’t want to fucking die, that’swhy.”
His mouth snapped shut, and he glared at mefor a span of heartbeats. I thought perhaps I had gotten through tohim, but he was not yet ready to submit.
“What makes you think that you willdie, Centurion Pullus? You are,” suddenly, he looked a bit uneasy,“a prisoner, for lack of a better term. The Brigantes have noquarrel with you.”
“How many towns have you seenattacked? And,” I added, “how many attacks on a town have youparticipated in?” I knew it was a risk to his pride, but I asked asif I already knew the answer. “One? The one that you led when youwere captured?”
For a long moment, I was certain that I hadgone too far because he regarded me with a look of naked hostilityand, if I am any judge, a sense of shame that told me I wasright.
Finally, he asked stiffly, “What are youproposing, Centurion?”
“That I help you make Petuar herebetter able to hold off an assault or raid of some sort,” Ianswered.
“I have already taken those steps,” hesaid dismissively.
“If you think that what you’ve done isgoing to hold back a force of more than fifty men,” I imbued mywords with as much contempt as I could muster, “then every man,woman, and child in this town better be prepared to meet whatevergods of the underworld you people pray to.”
I had the feeling he wanted to strike me,but he was no fool, although he was behaving like one at thismoment.
Finally, he let out a harsh breath, as if hehad been holding it in, demanding, “And where do you think mypreparations are lacking, Centurion?”
“Follow me,” was all I said, walkingout of the hall.
First, I made an encompassing gesture of thehall and outbuildings as I asked, “Do you plan on defending LordSegovax’s hall as well as the town?”
“Of course!” he exclaimed.
“That’s your first mistake,” I saidbluntly. “The town is too far away for you to effectively protectone or the other, not with the men you have.”
“I have thought of that,” he insisted.“We will have horses ready to carry men back and forth!”
“How many men?” I countered, and hisface fell.
“Twenty,” he admitted, yet he was notready to give in, “but they will be the best and most experiencedof the warriors available, like Cunovindus.”
“How many mounted Brigantes have beenreported?” I asked, and while I thought I knew the answer becauseSaloninus had counted fifty armed men on horseback, I knew it waspossible that there were more that had been out ofsight.
This was confirmed when he sighed, “Almost ahundred. And twenty chariots.”
So they’ve gotten even stronger sinceSaloninus saw them, I thought, since none of my officers hadreported chariots, and the number of mounted men had doubled. Thisis even worse, and we might be truly fucked; this was what wasgoing on inside my head.
Aloud, I said, “So you have a mobile groupof the enemy that outnumbers these men you plan on using five toone, able to move around the town to cut off those men before theyget to Petuar.” I saw that he was weakening, but I did not get thesense he was ready to submit, so then I indicated the area aroundthe hall as I asked him, “What do you see?”
He was clearly irritated, knowing that hewould not like what was coming, but he performed a quick scan, thensurprised me by replying, “Since I am obviously not seeingsomething that you are seeing, Centurion, perhaps you could justtell me?”
Maybe, I thought, there’s hope for you yet,you arrogant bastard, another thought that fortunately stayedwithin my skull.
“Lord Segovax doesn’t have any kind offortification around his hall. No wall, and not even a ditch,” Iexplained, then pointed in the direction of the town, “but the towndoes, at least on three sides. Not,” I added, “that it’s much of awall, but it’s better than nothing.”
I stopped then, sensing that he needed to bethe next one to talk, and I watched as he turned, surveyed the halland outbuildings, so that when he turned to face me, I had seen hisshoulders slump in what I took as acceptance.
“Very well,” the words camegrudgingly, “you have made your point.”
As satisfactory as this victory was, on anumber of levels, I was not done, and I strode over to whereseveral horses were tied to the post, which had been returned toits original purpose.
“We need to ride into Petuar for me toshow you the rest,” was all I said, leaping onto the back of a baygelding that was larger than average, which was why I choseit.
It was something of a risk, I admit, but Idid not wait for Ivomagus to come and mount his own horse, or evento respond, kicking the bay into a trot. I heard what I feelconfident were curses, but since I was riding away, he could notsee me smile at the sound of his horse moving at a trot to catchup.
One of the more disturbing things I found inPetuar was the manner in which the people were behaving. I hadexpected to see the townspeople scrambling about, moving theirvaluables and making what preparations they could to pack up andflee, yet it seemed to be just another normal day if one were tojudge by their collective demeanor.
“Have you not warned the people?” Iasked Ivomagus in astonishment.
“No.” He shook his head, though herefused to meet my eyes. “I decided against it. I did not want tostart a panic.”
“You’ve practically assured that ofhappening!” It took an effort not to shout, not that it would havemattered since we were speaking in Latin and he was the only personwho could understand me. “It’s too late now, which is all the morereason we need to make
