Arrows of Fury: Empire Volume Two Read online

  His deputy shrugged.

  ‘In truth, First Spear, I think he was somewhat preoccupied with the fact that a pack of auxiliaries had whipped whatever glory there was to be had from stamping the remnants of the Carvetii flat out from under his nose.’

  The first spear mused on the comment for a moment.

  ‘Yes. With a bit of luck he’ll have been too busy working out how he’s ever going to distinguish himself enough to get command of his own legion, and not looking too closely at you, Centurion Corvus. Very well, I’d better go and report to the prefect. You four can go and get ready to march to the coast tomorrow. We’ve had word that our replacements have arrived from Germania, so you’d best get over to Arab Town and get them before someone less deserving finds out they’ve arrived and has them away. And you, Corvus, can reflect on whether there’s any way that you could manage a simple march to the coast and back without taking on and defeating any more barbarian warbands. Dismissed.’

  The four men saluted and trooped out of the office, heading for the officers’ mess. The oldest of them, a stocky veteran with iron-grey hair, put an arm around Marcus’s shoulders and ruffled his coal-black hair affectionately.

  ‘Not to worry, young Marcus, I was watching the wet-nosed aristocrat like a hawk and I’ll swear he never made the connection. Let’s go and get a drink, eh? You and I have new centuries to collect tomorrow, eighty big strong Tungrian boys apiece and an end to marching around alongside our old centuries while other men undo all our good work.’ He ducked away from Dubnus’s playful slap. ‘Current company excepted, of course.’

  First Spear Frontinius made his way from the headquarters building to the prefect’s residence with a reflective look on his face, the heavy torc carried in one hand. The new prefect had been posted to take command of the cohort less than two weeks previously, a post made vacant by the promotion of their previous commanding officer to lead the 6th Legion earlier the same summer. The two men had hardly begun the gradual process of getting to know one another, so essential if they were to lead their cohort successfully once the fight with the rebels north of the wall was rejoined, and yet there was already something about the man that made him feel uncomfortable. Unlike his previous prefect, now the legatus of the imperial 6th Legion and privy to the secrets behind Centurion Corvus’s position with the cohort, Gaius Rutilius Scaurus had made no attempt to seek any sort of relationship with his first spear.

  He nodded to the sentries standing guard on the residence and stepped into the building’s cool shade, waiting while the prefect’s taciturn German bodyguard went to fetch his master. After a moment’s delay his superior appeared at the door of his office. A tall man in his early thirties with a thin, almost ascetic face, he was dressed in a simple white tunic with the thin purple stripe on his left shoulder denoting that he was a member of the equestrian class. Scaurus’s eyes were a watery grey, their seemingly soft gaze set below black hair in a narrow face and with a chin that the first spear was unsure whether to characterise as aristocratic or simply weak, but his bearing was confident and his voice was cultured, almost urbane.

  ‘First Spear. Won’t you come and join me?’

  Frontinius stepped into the prefect’s office, accepting a beaker of water and taking a seat opposite the prefect. The room was lit by a single lamp, its shadows pressing in on the two men. Prefect Scaurus took his seat on the other side of his desk, his face half lit by the lamp’s soft glow, and took a sip from his own beaker before speaking.

  ‘The detachment has returned, I hear. I presume that the job of dealing with the locals went well enough, since we don’t seem to be overrun with wounded?’

  ‘Yes, sir. We played our part as requested, broke into the fort and dealt with the defenders easily enough. Three dead and half a dozen wounded, none of them seriously enough to need transferring to Noisy Valley. Flesh wounds for the most part. The officers also managed to retrieve this …’ He put the heavy gold neck ring on the prefect’s desk, watching as the other man picked it up and inspected the finely worked bull’s heads that knobbed both ends of the torc. ‘… a nice donation to the burial club.’

  The prefect put the torc back on the desk and nodded with satisfaction, but his next words instantly put the older man on his guard.

  ‘And centurion Corvus?’

  ‘Prefect?’

  ‘I said, “And Centurion Corvus?” By which, First Spear, I meant to ask you how your youngest officer performed during the defeat of the Carvetii.’

  Frontinius shifted uncomfortably.

  ‘Centurion Corvus played a full part in the action …’

  ‘Despite only having gone along for the experience, eh? My man Arminius tells me that the rumour around the fort is that Corvus did in five hundred heartbeats what the legion cohorts might have toiled to achieve in five thousand, and with a good deal more losses, if the natives had managed to get their palisade gates closed. And that a certain legion tribune has had his nose put out of joint in a quite spectacular way by his inability to reward one of his own centurions for finishing off the campaign. Which would probably be just another war story for both of us, except that I’ve been reading the cohort’s war diary, First Spear Frontinius.’ He lapsed into silence for a moment, fixing Frontinius with a level gaze, his grey eyes unblinking in their scrutiny of his subordinate. ‘And in the record of this cohort’s war to date your man Corvus seems to have played a full part in just about everything that’s happened in the last six months. He must be quite the man with his colleagues, not to mention the troops.’

  An uncomfortable silence played out for several seconds before the prefect spoke again. ‘As I read the story of your cohort’s actions early in the campaign I began to wonder two things, First Spear. I began to wonder just how one man could cause so much disruption to the enemy’s plans …’

  ‘He was commanding the scout century, Prefect, and so he was always going to …’

  ‘And more importantly, First Spear, I found myself wondering just how on earth he managed to avoid the eye of the succession of senior officers who must have heard of his exploits and decided that they wanted to know more about this remarkable young centurion of yours. I’m sure you can understand my pondering on these questions about this cohort of mine, given that it’s my responsibility to ensure its complete loyalty to the emperor.’

  The first spear opened his mouth to reply, but found himself forestalled by the prefect’s raised hand.

  ‘Before you answer, First Spear Frontinius, I’ve got one more question that I’m pondering. And I would be very careful with your answer if you value your place here. Just why is it, I’m wondering, that I find myself commanding a cohort which has an officer who, as we speak, is still being hunted by the emperor’s secret police as a traitor to the throne?’

  Frontinius sat in stunned silence for a moment, the prefect’s face darkening with his failure to reply.

  ‘Come on man, just how stupid do you think I am? The man’s obviously Roman. The name “Marcus Tribulus Corvus” shouts alias, and he’s blessed with skill and speed with arms that probably cost him ten years’ training with the best teachers. As it happens, I hear that the son of Senator Appius Valerius Aquila, a man of high position and reputation who was tortured and executed for treason earlier this year, is known to have spent most of his young life having fighting skills drilled into him by his father’s tame gladiators in preparation for service with the praetorians. He is known to have shipped out for Britannia on faked orders only weeks before his father’s death at the hands of the emperor’s investigators. And, First Spear, he is known to have vanished into thin air after two attempts to kill him, both of which ended with other men’s blood spilt, but not, apparently, that of their intended victim. This man Valerius Aquila, who was more or less the age that your “Tribulus Corvus” appears to be, is believed to have benefited from the assistance of local troops, and the finger of suspicion was pointing squarely at the Sixth Legion’s former legatus until he wa
s careless enough to leave both his legion’s eagle and his own head on the battlefield last spring. Perhaps Legatus Sollemnis was fortunate that his death was both quick and honourable …’

  He paused, raking the first spear with a long, hard stare.

  ‘The man behind the throne, First Spear, remains convinced that the Aquila boy is sheltering with an army unit somewhere in northern Britannia. And if Praetorian Prefect Perennis ever lacked motivation to have him found and killed, the death of his own son in this province earlier this year, coupled with extraordinary rumours of the younger Perennis having been murdered while apparently executing an act of treason, will only have stiffened that resolve. The emperor’s ‘corn officers’ will be out in force across the northern frontier, with orders to kill not only the fugitive but the leaders of any military unit found sheltering him, and to exercise their discretion in further punishing the men of that unit. I think we both know that the dirty-jobs boys have never been backward when it comes to handing out summary justice, and I’d imagine that you for one would end up choking out your last breath on a cross, with every centurion in the cohort likely already dead in front of you. Your men would be decimated at the very least, and as for your previous prefect, now Legatus Equitius, I believe, well, I wouldn’t care to occupy his shoes either. So, First Spear, you’d better explain to me just why my cohort is sheltering an enemy of the empire, and why on earth I should tolerate the situation for a minute longer?

  ‘Start talking.’

  The Hill’s officers’ mess steward was contentedly dozing off in his quiet corner when the door opened and a centurion stepped into the mess’s lamplight and looked about him, seeking out the steward. The newcomer was a grey-haired man with a stocky build, in late middle age to judge from his seamed face, and at first glance more likely to be a trader than a soldier, but the man behind the mess counter knew better.

  ‘Steward! Wine, four cups and make it something decent if you’ve any jars left fit for anything better than unstopping blocked arses. No doubt our brother officers have been throwing the stuff down their necks like Greek sailors while we’ve been away defending the cohort’s reputation.’

  More officers were crowding the doorway behind him.

  ‘Shift your backside, Rufius, I’ve got a thirst that demands prompt service.’

  Julius clapped a hand on Rufius’s shoulder and manoeuvred past him into the mess, dropping his cloak on to a table and stretching with genuine weariness. He was a head taller than the older man, his build both muscular and athletic while his grey-streaked heavy black beard reinforced the slightly piratical look of his face. Dubnus came through the door behind him, his physique if anything more magnificent, even if he looked less comfortable than his colleagues, still not quite at ease with his exalted status. Centurions, the steward knew from experience, were uncertain for their first few weeks with a vine stick in their hands, but very quickly never to be proved wrong in all the days that followed.

  ‘Come on, Dubnus, stop lurking, get in here and get your cloak off. You’re an officer now, so there’s no need to simper in the doorway like some bloody virgin invited to her first orgy.’

  Dubnus favoured his brother officer with a dirty look and stepped inside, turning back to beckon Marcus in with a curiously deferential gesture as Rufius stepped up to the counter and slapped down a coin of a decent if not exceptional value.

  ‘If your wine is worthy of the name we’ll be drinking here all night and you, Steward, will earn this for keeping us well supplied. Come on, Marcus, let’s have you at the bar with your right arm ready for action.’

  The steward nodded deferentially. This was the kind of officer he could cope with. Over the older man’s shoulder he watched the youngest man step into the lamplight. Gods, what a collection, he mused. Rufius, legion-trained and a seasoned blend of piss and vinegar; Julius, the supreme warrior in the prime of his fighting career, all muscles, scars and confidence; Dubnus, the former Chosen Man newly promoted into a dead man’s boots and still adapting to their fit; and the Roman, leaner than the others, lacking their obvious muscle but known to every man in the cohort by the respectful title ‘Two Knives’. The other three were all good enough centurions, respected and feared by their men in equal measure, but the Roman was the one officer in the fort that any man would follow into danger without ever needing an order.

  Rufius passed a cup each to Julius and Dubnus, beckoning Marcus to join them.

  ‘Get a grip of one of these cups.’

  Marcus fiddled for a moment with the pin holding his cloak together, and Rufius gave the heavy piece of jewellery a knowing look.

  ‘Still wearing that pin, eh? Don’t say I didn’t warn you if the bloody thing goes missing. Julius, let him through to the counter.’

  Julius turned to look at the young centurion as he twisted the ornate badge to open its pin. He looked hard for a moment at the ornate replica of a round cavalry shield, decorated with an intricate engraving of Mars in full armour, sword raised to strike.

  ‘So that’s what the pair of you rode all that way to find. Very pretty …’

  Rufius took the younger man’s cloak and tossed it on to the piled table.

  ‘It’s just about all he’s got to remind him of his father. There’s a personal inscription on the shield’s rear too, which makes it even more precious to him. That was all we could recover from the bundle we buried that morning Dubnus and I pulled his nuts out of the fire outside Yew Grove.’

  The hulking young officer standing behind them laughed softly, his discomfort with the novelty of his status suddenly forgotten.

  ‘Dubnus and I? I seem to recall that all you did was wave your sword about while I had to throw myself around like a fortress whore on payday.’

  Rufius grinned, poking his friend in the belly.

  ‘One well-favoured axe-throw from no more than spitting distance and the butchery of a defenceless horse and suddenly he’s One-Eyed Horatius. Anyway, the point is that when we dug up the bundle we buried back then that was all there was worth keeping … that and the lad’s last message from his father.’

  Marcus shivered at the memory of opening the watertight dispatch rider’s message cylinder and reading a few lines from his father’s message from the grave into the cold dawn air a few days before.

  ‘By the time you reach Britannia, I expect that Commodus and his supporters will have laid formal charges of treason at our family’s door. I will have been tortured for information as to your whereabouts, then killed without ceremony or hearing … Whatever the ugly detail of their ending, our kindred will be taken and killed out of hand, our honour publicly denounced, and our line almost brought to an abrupt full stop. You are almost certainly all that remains of our blood …’

  He shook himself free of the momentary introspection, raising the cup of wine to his friends.

  ‘And enough of that, there’s wine waiting. Let’s have a toast, gentlemen. Tungrian comrades, living and dead.’

  ‘Living and dead.’

  They raised their cups and drank.

  ‘Here’s a toast for you.’

  Julius raised his cup and looked around the small group with a wry smile.

  ‘I’ll drink to that moment at Lost Eagle when Uncle Sextus started humping that chieftain’s severed head in front of twenty thousand wild-eyed blue-noses. That was the moment I was sure I was going to die.’

  They drank again. Rufius nudged Dubnus with his elbow.

  ‘Your turn, Centurion.’

  After a moment’s silent thought the young officer raised his cup.

  ‘To Lucky, wherever he is now.’

  Julius drank and laughed sharply.

  ‘Not so lucky after all. All those years with never a scratch only to get his hair parted by a blue-nose axe. His loss, your gain.’

  The four men nodded silently, sharing a moment of memory. Marcus raised his cup to Rufius, a questioning look on his face.

  ‘And your toast, Grandfather?’
<
br />   ‘My toast …? I’ll raise my cup to those we loved who are no longer with us.’

  The other men nodded, lifting their cups in silent salute, Rufius draining his and hammering it down on the long wooden bar with a smack of his lips.

  ‘A refill, Steward! We’ll be sitting over there by the stove. It might be late in the month of Junius, but it’s bloody cold for all that.’

  ‘It began, Prefect, back in the month of Februarius. One of my chosen men brought a young man in peasant clothing to the fort’s main gate …’

  Frontinius told Prefect Scaurus the story of Marcus’s fight to gain a place with the cohort in swift and economical sentences, taking care not to exaggerate his recollection in any way. When his story was complete Scaurus sat in silence for a moment before speaking.

  ‘First Spear, you present me with a dilemma greater than any puzzle requiring a solution during my years of learning.’

  A long silence hung in the air between them. Frontinius judged it best to keep his mouth shut as he waited for the prefect to resume what he expected to be a one-sided conversation.

  ‘It occurs to me that while I know what you have done, I do not yet understand why. So, First Spear Frontinius, help me understand your decision with regard to this fugitive from imperial justice. In your own time …’

  The prefect rose from his chair and paced across the room, turning to look straight into his senior centurion’s eyes. Now his face was in shadow, unreadable, while the lamp behind him would show him any emotions crossing the first spear’s face. The first spear pondered his response for a moment before abandoning any thought of attempting to put any particular shine on the story.

  ‘You want to know why I agreed to allow a man wanted for treason to take sanctuary with the cohort. There is no one reason, but I’ll try to make why I did what I did clear for you. I suppose we can ignore the fact that both the man and his father were innocent of any of the charges laid against their family, although I’m convinced that was the case …’