Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 06] Druid's Gold (16 page)

“Lead on.” Turning in his saddle he shouted, “We have a settlement.  We are now tax collectors. Avoid killing but take what you can.  Follow my lead.”

As they approached the village he could see that it stood at the foot of a palisaded hill.  Obviously they had a hill fort in which to retreat but as they had only seen Romans approaching they had staying in their settlement nestling close to a stream and a small lake.

The headman walked up to them.  He was a greybeard and looked happy to see them. “Welcome sir I am…”

“I am Centurion Octavius of the Second Pannonians and I am here to collect your unpaid taxes.”

The headman spread his arms. “But sir it is not yet tax time.”

“It is now.” Decius kicked him hard in the face and he fell unconscious at his feet. “Listen to me.  Rome has given you the benefit of protection and now you must pay for it.” Turning to Brennus he shouted,” Collect the taxes centurion!”

By the time they left the settlement most of the men had been hit and left bleeding. None of the livestock had been left and the gold they had buried beneath their huts had been uncovered and taken. They left a community shocked into a wailing acceptance of the injustice of Rome. Decius had no doubt that, when the headman awoke, he would complain to Mamucium but, more importantly, would complain to neighbouring hamlets and so the word would spread. Rather than heading in a direct line to their camp he headed north for a while to confuse any pursuit. When they rode into calm triumphantly Centurion and Tiny were there already with another group of men. “I see it worked then?”

“It worked like you wouldn’t believe. We will all soon be rich men.”

Chapter 10

Livius and his new decurions had settled on a new routine as they travelled west; they rode in pairs.  It made life much easier and quicker yet enabled them to cover large areas. Each section or as they now called them, maniples, using the legionary term met up each night to camp and exchange information.  This enabled them to send a rider back to the legion if necessary otherwise they could carry on with their patrol. The Prefect liked this as no news was good news. Livius found himself grinning; it was highly inappropriate a demeanour for what was in effect the senior cavalryman in the legion but he could not help himself.  He had a perfect job.  He was riding in the most beautiful country a man could ever see, for it was still summer, and he was with comrades who felt more like friends than inferiors. He noticed as they rode through the valleys that, now that the Batavians had rid the forests of bandits there were more farms and they waved happily to the visible sign of Rome, Livius and his men.

The engineers who followed Livius were also happy for Livius knew the country so well that their job was made much easier and the road was already built close to Glanibanta. Livius knew they had to be close to Mediobogdum before the first snows fell for then the ground would be too hard to work.  If they could manage that then the auxiliaries could build their fort and be snugly housed for the winter. It would also mean that Livius and his men could winter in Glanibanta and he was also looking forward to that.

Rufius was riding next to him. Since they had come west he had chosen the youngest member of the maniple to be his partner. The others had self selected their partners leaving Rufius alone.  He was a quiet young man and Livius had taken him under his wing.  He remembered when he had ridden with Marcus Maximunius and how that had helped him, how the older man had passed on his experience, wisdom and knowledge to the young, callow trooper.  Perhaps he could do the same for Rufius. He saw, in the young man, much of himself when he was young; the keen enthusiasm, the desperation to do well and the deep loyalty to his comrades. “Well Rufius does the land look familiar?”

“Yes sir. It seems like yesterday.” They were riding north of Glanibanta and both anticipating viewing the site of their skirmish where they had lost the first members of the Explorates. Livius had decided to ride up the path to the cave in daylight. He knew that the road would not be coming this way but he wanted to spend the night there and explore the cave while it was still daylight.

“Rufius just ride by the lake and find the route from that direction.”

“Yes sir,” snapped Rufius who rode off, keen to impress.

Livius smiled seeing a younger version of himself. He had asked him to try the other route so that he could discover if it was passable following the man made avalanche. He found the path very steep and remembered how difficult it had been in the dark; even in the daylight it was not an easy journey.  He wondered if it might be possible to place a signal tower here. The path twisted savagely from side to side with a rocky cliff and trees forming a thick barrier. Suddenly he emerged into daylight and he could see where the rocks had fallen killing his two men. Drusus had come back himself to bury the men of his section after they had watched Morwenna sail away to safety. Now there was just a jumble of rocks and the whitened bones of horses to mark the site of their deaths. He let Star’s reins drop.  The horse was so well trained that he would just wander to find grazing, returning at Livius’ whistle. He could see the remains of the camp which had been here, the blackened rocks where the fire had been, the pile of bones from the animals they had eaten, and the dried shrivelled droppings from the mules.  It looked nothing like a Roman camp which was always ordered and organised.  It showed that no matter how numerous they were and nor matter how cunning, they were still barbarians and Livius knew that the organised Roman war machine would, eventually, grind them down. The Emperor Trajan appeared to be busy in the east but the officers of the Ninth were hopeful that, if he came west he could finish off the work so nearly completed by General Agricola twenty years or so earlier.

He was just about to go into the cave when he heard the clatter of hooves on  rocks.  Rufius’ head appeared, almost magically and his grinning young face beamed at his superior.  “That was a ride.”

“Was it hard?”

“Very.  The rocks are so small that they constantly move beneath the hooves.  It is a good job that Blackie is nimble on her feet or we would have ended up at the bottom of the valley.” Rufius dismounted and nuzzled his horse, “Good girl!” Neighing she wandered off to join Star who had found some tussocks of grass on which to graze.

“So the only way up now is the way I came?”

“I suppose sure footed auxiliaries might be able to manage it but they would make a lot of noise.”

Rufius was a clever young man.  He had understood what went behind the question rather than just the question.  He would make an excellent officer for he was already a perfect Exploratore; someone who could use intelligence to bring back useful intelligence. “We’ll explore the cave and then camp here tonight.”

“Will the others be joining us?”

“Perhaps I told them either Glanibanta or here.  I suspect they will choose Glanibanta as it is more comfortable.”

“Oh I don’t know sir.  This looks like a dry cave, plenty of water and grazing for the animals.  We can even light a fire in the cave.”

“Let’s do that. It looks like rain and it will illuminate the interior later.”

The fire did indeed throw light throughout the whole cave.  It was more than a cave it was a whole cavern system and they explored the rear where the wall had once been. “I would love to know why they built the wall.”

“Hiding something?  Perhaps a separate room, I mean they had the Queen with them.”

“The Queen, Rufius is a witch, and I don’t think that she would worry about others.  I suspect that she and her women occupied the whole of the cave and left the men outside. We now know there were only thirty or so of them anyway.”

As they returned to the fire and the rabbits which were roasting Rufius asked, “Do you think she has gone for good then sir?”

“No.  Her mother, the witch Fainch, plagued the province for over twenty years until Marcus Maximunius finally caught up with her and had her crucified. We will have to do the same for her daughter. You must  never underestimate her Rufius.  She has more faces than a dozen actors.  She can smile and appear innocent while stabbing you in the back.  The old Decurion Princeps of Marcus’ Horse found that to his cost.”

“She is that dangerous then?”

“ Far more dangerous than any man I have ever fought.”

Rufius turned the rabbits over while he plucked up the courage to ask the question which had rattled around in his head since they had set off from Brocauum. “Sir someone at the fort said that she was with your brother.  Is that right?”

“I am sorry to say yes.  My uncle sent my brother Decius to look after Wyddfa’s gold while I learned to be a cavalryman.  I suspect he was seduced by the gold and the desire for riches.”

“What will you do if we catch him?”

“It isn’t an ‘if’ Rufius, it is a when.  When we catch him he will be tried and punished for his crimes.”

“Crucifixion then?”

“Probably.” Livius wanted the subject changing for he found the thought of his brother as a traitor disturbing. “ Anyway  are those rabbits ready yet?”

*

Two weeks after beginning their raids Decius was pleased with the results they had achieved.  They had over a hundred and fifty men under arms with more arriving every day.  Nuada and Centurion vetted them just in case the Romans had sent in spies but the authorities seemed blind to the insurrection happening in such a quiet part of the province.  The auxiliary patrols along the main road were increased but the first raid by Decius had just been opportunist.  His mission, as Morwenna and the Wise One had said, was to upset and annoy the people.  Now that they had more men at their disposal they could send out more columns to increase the chaos.

Decius and Brennus were in the main hut with Centurion deciding where the next raids should take place when the messenger arrived. They kept a watch close to the beach to warn them of Roman naval activity and to alert them to the arrival of their own boats.  This was just such an occasion.  The man was not only out of breath he was also very excited. “It is the Queen!  She is at the beach and wishes to see you my lord and General Decius.”

Brennus and Decius did not waste time wondering why the Queen had come they knew that she would not want to be kept waiting.  They both sprang on the backs of their horses without waiting for them to be saddled. When they arrived at the beach Morwenna was sat on a wicker seat with the boat hauled up on the sand.  Around her stood ten tall warriors each one with sword and shield.  She looked heavily pregnant. As they slithered to a halt the ten warriors came menacingly forward, their swords pointed at the two men. Morwenna held up her hand, “They are friends.”

The swords were sheathed but Brennus could not resist walking up to the largest one and spitting in the sand near him, daring him to action. “I see you are still as belligerent as ever Brennus.”

“Sorry your majesty.”

“And General Decius, how fine you look in your uniform.  Where did the title come from?” she asked teasingly.

Decius shuffled for he was embarrassed.  “It was the men they thought…”

Decius had forgotten how enchanting her laugh could be and when she laughed it made him look up and smile. “I am not unhappy about it, just surprised. I did not see you being seduced by uniforms and titles.  Perhaps I should be jealous.” She turned to her guards.  “Go and guard the trees or something.  I am quite safe with these two.” They wandered off reluctantly.  “Tadgh feels I need protection now that the child, our child, is growing so well.” Decius smiled at the term, ‘our child’. “How go the raids?”

“Well we have a hundred and fifty men.  We acquired some new mail and caligae and the people are becoming unhappy.  There is a great deal of unrest with Rome. We are increasing the raids from tomorrow.”

“Good.  I have news for you.” She peered closely at his face to gauge his reaction. “I come to tell you that we will be bringing our army over before winter.”

“But that means we may be fighting during winter.”

“Yes General but what you do not know is that in this part of the land the winters are milder than in the east, the north or even further south, near Wyddfa.  It will hurt the Romans more than we and will allow us to build up our strength.  The other reason is to give new orders to Brennus.” Brennus looked surprised at being included in what had appeared to be an almost private conversation.  “You can stop being a Roman now Brennus and become a Brigante once more.” He gave such a loud whoop that the guards looked around and began to move back to the beach until Morwenna waved them back. “When a settlement has been raided you must visit it as a Brigante who has been displaced by the Romans in the east.  Tell them that this is what they did to you and how they sold your village into slavery. Embroider the story as much as you wish. But you need to be convincing.  Find any Brigante warriors who are willing to fight against Rome and have them join your army.  Not this army here but a second one which you will build further north.  General Decius will supply you with gold and any non-Roman weapons. Do you have them?”

“Yes many.  We disarm any village we find.  It aggravates the situation.”

“Good.  Take your Brigante, Brennus to build your camp.  You have built one which worked for the deserters.  It should be easier with your own people.”

“It will indeed.” He suddenly looked worried. “But I do not have long do I?”

“We have a thousand warriors ready to come over for the rebellion.  Many Brigante fled to the island and to Ireland.  They wish to return.  We have also used the gold you provided to buy Irish warriors. Your new Brigante will join with us and we will use our Roman army too.” She paused and looked again at Decius’ face. “Decius, will they fight for us?”

“No,” he said bluntly, “but they will fight for money and they will also fight to show their former masters that they are better warriors. They have no ideals and even less scruples but they are good fighters.”

“It pains me to say it but the General is right.  They are fierce and they are ruthless.  I would be happy to fight alongside them.”