I expressed this to Ivomagus, and asked him,“Is this all? Where are the others?”
He flushed, my first indication I would notlike it, confirmed when he looked away and said, “I left forty menat the camp.”
“Forty!” I believe I actually took astep backward. “But we said that it would only be fifteen menthere!”
“I know!” He did not shout, exactly,but he was not being defiant either. Lowering his voice, he saidmiserably, “Centurion, believe me. I tried, but those twenty-fiveother men all have family inside the camp, and they refused toleave them behind.”
As soon as I heard him, I was certain he wastelling the truth, if only because it sounded like something my menwould at least try to do.
I thought a moment before asking him, “Whatwould your brother do if that many men defied him?”
Ivomagus gave a laugh that held absolutelyno humor, laced with the bitterness that I had observed was alwaysthere right underneath the surface.
Seeing I was expecting an answer, he beganby saying, “I do not believe any man would dare to defy him. But,”he reflected, “he would probably pick out the most formidable ofthe group, the man with the greatest reputation, and then,” hesmiled grimly, “he would beat them as close to death as he couldget them.”
That, I thought, sounds like anexcellent plan, but I also knew Ivomagus was not up to the task, soI was trying to think of a way to plant the idea in his mind toallow me to do it, when, from the eastern side of the town, a long,thin note of the Parisii version of the bucina sounded.
I have no idea whether this was a consciouschoice by the commander of the Brigantes force; later, men wouldswear that they saw their King Diviciacus, but whatever the reason,they decided not to wait until it was fully dark before theyadvanced on Petuar. Because of the board-flat terrain, and thedownstream stretch being barren of any kind of thick forest orfoliage, they were spotted just as the sun was setting, marching ata leisurely but steady pace. Naturally, Ivomagus and I had raced tothe eastern gate, and we watched them coming in the fading light,the upper edge of the sun dipping below the horizon when I guessedthey were about a mile away.
“How many do you think there are,Centurion?” Ivomagus asked, still shading his eyes as if the sunwas still up.
He tried to sound cool and collected for hismen, which I appreciated, but the answer I gave was grim.
“I’d estimate that they have at leasta hundred mounted men, several chariots, and maybe a bit less than a thousand men on foot,total. It’s hard to tell when they’re bunched like that,” Iadmitted.
“That,” he answered, “was my estimateas well.”
He fell silent then, and I sensed that themen who would be responsible for holding the gate, ten across withthree men standing behind them and ready to replace each of them,were watching our exchange intently. Say something, you barbarianbastard, I silently urged him; these men need encouragement, notyou looking as if you had just been sentenced to death!
Finally, I could bear it no longer, so Isaid loudly, knowing my tone was more important than the words,“Well, that just gives your boys more chances for glory, eh,Ivomagus?” I clapped him on the back, harder than necessary, whichgot his attention as I hoped, but when he spun to face me, his faceexpressing his indignant anger, I hissed, “Translate what I justsaid, you stupid bastard! These men need to hear theircommander…now!”
To his credit, Ivomagus’ reaction was not toargue, a look of embarrassment replacing his expression of aninstant before. He gave an almost imperceptible nod, but he wasalready speaking as he did so, his tone more or less matching mine.I heard my name mentioned, but he talked a bit longer than it wouldhave taken to translate my words. Most importantly, once he wasfinished, the men around us let out a full-throated roar, somethrusting their spears into the air, others banging them againsttheir shields, and I could tell the reaction was genuine and notsimply done because that was expected.
As they were shouting, I asked Ivomagus,“What did you say?”
He looked embarrassed, but heanswered, “Essentially the same thing you said. And,” he gave aslight smile, “I might havetold them that you said to me that you would not want to be facingthem, even with all of one of your Legions.”
I cannot say I liked it, but I did laugh asheartily as I could in a signal to the other men around us. Thusbolstered, the noise died down and Ivomagus and I returned ourattention to the Brigantes, who were now more or less an indistinctshape still moving at the same slow but what I was certain wasdeliberate pace. They’re trying to build up the tension; thethought flashed into my mind, and as soon as it came, I was certainI was right.
I lowered my voice and told Ivomagus, “Ithink they’re trying to provoke us into doing something rash. And,”I turned back to watch for a moment, “I think they’re going to dosomething that will show us how badly we’re outnumbered.”
“Like what?” Ivomagus asked, thoughnot in a skeptical manner, but all I could do was offer afrustrated shrug.
“I have no idea, but I think thatwe’ll be finding out soon enough.”
I was right, at least about finding outfairly quickly, and we also understood why the Brigantes werechoosing to wait, because they obviously planned on using thedarkness to their advantage in more than one way. This was madeapparent when, at the sound of a horn that, to my
