The Curious Quests of Brigadier Ffellowes (24 page)

             
"Swirling mists lay on the water's surface also, but not constant any more than they had been in the woods on the slope above. They veiled the waters but only in patches and shifted slowly to reveal new and shadowy vistas and then closed again and reformed anon some way off. In one opening of the white fog, I had seen a thing quite close to us and only a
little
way upstream, a couple of hundred feet. It had intrigued me for very obvious reasons, since dark was now coming fast I gave orders and the wagons, all three,
were put in a half-circle with the water at our backs. Sentries were posted at good points and silence imposed. I told the men to eat their combat rations cold and keep mum and lightless. Then I took Broke and a couple of well-armed men and all went to what I had spotted. When we got there, I got out a hooded flash and used it on what lay on the ground and also went out into the water.

             
"It was nothing more than a broad jetty or the shore portion of one. I looked it over carefully and so did the other three. A very thin layer of soil and leaves did not hide what lay underneath. I was struck silent by it. There were massive blocks of some stone or other, rough and worn yet still strong and solid. The chief wear was logically on our left side, the upstream side. The whole mass thrust out into the Danube for some fifty or so feet and then came to a stop.

             
" 'Not built yesterday, men,' I said at length. 'This is part of ancient Rome, if I'm not wrong, and was one of their
piers
. Probably been used by fishers and such, since the 4th Century, and still has uses. I rather think that what we're looking for will be coming this way. Good place to tie up to, and a
riverman
, coming from the other side, would not have too much trouble finding it. Even at night and a night like this one.'

             
"So that was all. We went back and sent the same two men with one of the veteran sergeants back to the pier we had found. They were to stay low and keep a sharp lookout
.
We were deep in enemy country. We were winning but not here or yet.

             
"The rest of us, having arranged watches and checked all the posts where the inland advance guard was to keep watch, ate and turned in. I chatted for a bit with the three officers and then curled up in my waterproof under a blanket on one of the half-tracks. The night was very silent, save for the burble of the river and the steady drip from the trees, which blended with it. Every so often, planes would hum in the distance and once I heard a far-off thud which may have
been a major explosion. But that was all, and I soon fell into an easy slumber, having satisfied myself that I had taken all precautions and done the best I could. I had a quiet smile as I dropped off. Even the ghosts the old girl had been so afraid of, wherever they were, were good and quiet."

             
Outside the big, high-ceilinged room, the thunder of one of man's great cities seemed very far away. Save for our breathing and an occasional crackle from the fire, all was silent about us. I saw more than one mouth stay open as we waited for the next words of that silent, far-off night in an alien land.

             
"It was one of the younger officers who woke me up. I flicked a glance at my watch and it was two a.m. on a very dark morning. I could hear nothing and the night was silent, save for the splash of water and the fainter drip of that on the trees.

             
" 'Don't know what's up, sir,' was the low-voiced message. 'The sergeant sent one of his watch back a second ago, from the bridgehead you found. They've heard some sound they don't like, I gather.'

             
"I was on my feet quickly. I hissed at him to alert all hands and that I would go over and check myself on whatever it was. I drew my Webley from its holster and, at a crouch,
eeled
over to where the sergeant was waiting for me, in the shadow of a willow trunk by the ancient pier. I could feel his tension, even in the dark, and I could not even see his face clearly. The fog was heavier now and, with the night as well, we were in a lightless shroud.

             
" 'We have heard something, sir,' came his hoarse whisper. 'Maybe it's what we're expecting. Very quiet and the sound of a few men marching. But I heard metal clink and so did the other three.' He paused. 'Something else, too. What might have been a couple of horses, maybe unshod or walking on them leaves and stuff. That could be for us, now, right, sir?"

             
" 'I patted his arm and we listened intently. For some
time, I heard only the usual night noise and the river. Once an owl hooted, faintly and a long piece off. Then when I was beginning to wonder if the men had bad dreams, I heard it myself.

             
"It was the sound of soft but regular footsteps, more than one, as if in that utter dark, some folk could actually keep in step. Too, just as the man had said, there came a clink of metal and now a creaking as well, which might have been leather or something like that. I held my breath and sure enough, there came the other sound. It was heavy and caused by some weight, but even muffled and hard to make out, it was quite close and the sound of more than two feet.

             
"I told him to get his men facing out and stay with them. I would stay hid at the pier's foot and meet whatever it was. The others were on alert and ready to chip in if needed. He faded from my side and I crept over to a tree bole where I had said. Then we all waited in that dark and soggy night
.
Not even the hum of a plane was heard, as we all faced away from the river to the black wall of the wood.

             
"The sound of the muffled but regular pace, of both man and beast, came even closer. And, suddenly, I saw what I was listening to, or at least part of it. And what a sight it was!

             
"There in front of me, perhaps ten yards off, was a man and he held in one hand a kind of rude torch. I had heard no sound of its being lit; it was suddenly on and illumined what lay under it to my startled eye. I stood up and stepped forward, and a voice, that of the man in front of me, cried out something. I held up my empty left hand, palm outward, so he could see it. He stared at me, his jaw set, and then he spoke to me.

             
" 'Who are you?' he began, 'and what do you here on our side. You are on the lands of the
Empire, Barbarian, and what do you here at night? It is death to be here and a ban exists. Do you understand me?'

             
"He was a short swarthy man, smooth-faced, and must
have been given a short haircut, for none showed below his helmet
.
But he was no youth and his strong jaw had white scar lines. The eyes were dark and sharp and there were many wrinkles at the corners. I stood, frozen by a paralysis strong enough to melt bones. And suddenly the cold of the night went through my very soul, as if the wavering aura of torchlight around the figure before me had some malign and invisible miasma of its own. I could stare, mouth wide open at what I saw.

             
"First, there was the helmet, of what looked like battered brass, dented and with verdigris over some of it
.
It was rounded, with a tail coming down the back of the neck and flaring around the sides. A ridge of smooth metal crowned it, also dented. He wore a tunic of stained leather, and on his breast was the brass of a perforate which screened the chest
.
His brownish kilt came to his knees, and his boots were soft leather but with greave armor on their fronts. The
gladius
, the two-edged Spanish or
Celtiberian
short sword, was hung from a shoulder belt. Tucked into this belt was what looked like a switch or crop.

             
"Then and for the first time I realized what tongue I had been hearing. My Sixth Form at school came back with a rush to me. The barking voice was in Latin! I could understand it perfectly well, save for an occasional word. But something old and cold had come into my spirit. Time had stood still and all thought of the present was gone, as if it were some ephemeral cloud.

             
"I heard the voice of the sergeant over my shoulder and close by as if it were from another world. All I heard was, 'Are you all right
...' and then the figure in front of me barked a command.

             
"There was a sudden movement in the dark behind him, and something whizzed past my head. There was a sharp sound like a branch being broken, and I felt, rather than saw, a figure slump to the ground on my right and rear.

             
" 'Tell those
Massagetae
of yours to stay back,' rapped
the voice from the front, 'and stand still yourself, even if you are their Prince!'

             
"I did not move and it was not voluntary. My hand was still raised and now even higher. Had Adolf seen me, he would have been proud, save that it was the wrong hand. I knew why that open hand was raised too, and terror crept through me. Was this a bad dream or the end of the world? The silent, fog-ensorcelled night had eaten all sounds but what I heard, and now I heard a new sound.

             
"It was the earthy sound of a horse pacing and it was coming out of the blackness behind the man before me, straight for us. Its head appeared in the light and I saw the gleam of silvery and gilt chains across its brow. A man, a very dark man, whose eyeballs flashed in the torchlight, was leading it
.
I hardly looked at him, but got the idea that he was swathed in white robes and had a hood pulled back of the same hue.

             
"It was the mounted man, whose mount he was leading; it was he whom I watched as my
arm grew even stiffer. I could no longer even feel the Webley in my right fist.

             
"This new appearance was striking. His
lorica
, the cuirass on his chest, gleamed with a yellow light and I knew gold when I saw it. It was ornate, too, and I saw scrollwork and the glitter of gems on his breast
.
He too wore a helmet but his was of finely wrought gold, and surmounting its gleaming ridge was a higher, great ridge of scarlet running from the front to the rear, upright and narrow. The helmet had a slight bill over the dark eyes, and oh, yes thrown back over his shoulders was a heavy and shimmering cloak, whose golden fringe accented the deeper purple of the main body of the garment
.

             
"His face, that of a mature and stern man, as hairless as the first man's, gripped my gaze. It was commanding, that face, and yet somehow, it was weary, with an unutterable tiredness. A thrill of ice went through me as I met those dark, weary eyes. Then he spoke, though not to me, and I flinched
inside as I heard the voice of a doomed and mighty shade, for it contained all the weariness of the ages, mingled with its great authority. Tears came unbidden to my eyes and yet I stood frozen, held in that fog and dark by some mind
-
bending, tragic power.

             
" 'What have we here, Legate? More incursions of the hordes of the East? They look strange enough to have come from the far, strange land of silks, on which our women will always waste our substance.' His horse turned slightly and he addressed me, myself.

             
"His speech was plain, his voice of a deep timbre. '
Principes
Barbarii
, this place and this river are forbid when
Noctens
rules. Not even the
Foederati
in my pay can come here then, not if they wish to live. My priests and some of ancient Set from the far-off
Nilus
, they have all laid this ban, and the dark powers will enforce it as did my own slinger from
Balearica
. Should you wish to take service, this is done only when Apollo himself is high in the Heavens. Otherwise, get you gone or the Powers of Darkness will hold you forever. I guard
Vindobonum
yet and always will and these are approaches that no one can cross the mighty river upon and live without an eternal price upon them.' "

             
Ffellowes fell silent and the room stayed that way too. The thunder of New York was a far-distant murmur, and only a glow of remaining coals lit the high, dark of the big room. We were all a long way off, in time and space and only breathing was audible. At length, he spoke once more and finished his tale.