Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 03] Invasion- Caledonia (9 page)

Gaelwyn saw the fleeing riders as they crested the rise. He turned to Metellus, “Riders and they are riding as though pursued.”

Metellus could now see them. If they were Brigante they would turn and go in the opposite direction in which case he would pursue. He was about to order his men into extended line when he saw them turn and come towards him. When they arrived he could see they were not native warriors although they were armed.

“Who are you?”

“We are the guards of Pontius Brutus the merchant.  We were attacked by Brigante and they have killed our master.”

Metellus had had his orders made quite clear. Their job was to protect the merchants. “Gaelwyn ride back to the column and report to the prefect. You men take me back to where you were attacked.” The guards looked at each other fearfully; they had just escaped the danger why should they go back? Metellus could see the indecision. “Just show us from a distance then you can piss off wherever you like.” Reluctantly they led him over the slope.  In the distance Metellus could see movement. “Is that them?”

“Yes sir.”

“Right wait here and point the way for the rest of the column.” To his turma he shouted, “ Draw your swords!”

Galloping down the hill they caught the bandits completely unaware. They were busy extracting the mules from their traces and, being mules,  the animals were not cooperating. Just as Calgus had found his prey helpless and vulnerable now he became the prey. The forty Romans quickly killed most of the bandits and Metellus barely had time to halt the slaughter before his men killed them all. “That’s enough we need prisoners.”

By the time the prefect arrived with two turmae Metellus had bound the prisoners and tended to the wounded guards who had remained close to their charge. Metellus noted, with some surprise that the three guards who had been reluctant to return to the ambush were with the prefect.

“Well done decurion. Any casualties?”

Inwardly Metellus smiled, the prefect always thought of his men first. “No sir. Five prisoners for interrogation.”

Marcus nodded and beckoned over the three guards who had fled. “Your master,” he pointed to the bloodied corpse, “did he have family?”

“No sir.”

“Land?”

“Yes sir, up near Morbium.”

“Mmm. That gives us a problem. What were you carrying?”

“Quick lime and limestone for Deva.”

Marcus turned to Metellus. “Our quartermaster could be a very happy man tonight. We will take your wagons and guards into our safe keeping. You three return to you master’s home and guard it until we can decide what to do about his land.” He saw them exchange quick furtive glances. “Oh and before you think of running, my cavalry is based here and in Morbium. When I visit Morbium I will expect to find you three there.  If you are not then I would have to think that you were rebels and have you crucified. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir.” Metellus smiled their faces showed quite clearly that they would be there.

“Take whatever food you need from your wagons. If you leave now you should make Stanwyck before dark.” Marcus emphasised Stanwyck to let them know he knew the area well. With slumped shoulders the three riders rode off rueing the fact that their freedom had been short lived.

“I’m surprised they didn’t show a clean pair of heels before you arrived sir.”

Marcus grinned, “Oh they tried but they were so dozy they ran straight into us. Well this is a stroke of fortune.”

“Why sir?”

“Lime and limestone. We can make concrete, pazzolana and have stone buildings at the new fort. Should make Decius happy. Now let us interview the prisoners.”

The fear on the prisoner’s faces was clear.  They had recognised the uniforms and remembered the Pannonians from the battle. “Where is your base?” They all sullenly looked at the ground. Marcus nodded. “So it is to be that way. Trooper!” He gestured to the nearest trooper who stood stiffly at attention.

“Sir!”

“Choose one of the prisoners, any one. Your choice. “

The trooper grinned, reached down and dragged one to his feet by his braided hair. “This one’ll do sir.”

“Stick your spear in the ground,” he paused and looked at the quaking prisoner, “point uppermost.”

The grinning trooper roared, “Yes sir.”The other troopers began to grin in anticipation as they saw the wet patch forming at the prisoner’s feet. The trooper had succeeded in driving his spear into the ground so that the blade and the length of a man’s leg protruded from the soft soil of the riverbank.

“So I will ask you again where is your base? And before you look at the ground again if I receive silence then my men will sit you on that little seat.” The prefect pointed at the spear. Marcus then looked at the other men. “When you have died I will repeat the questions to the others.”

The man could not get his words out quickly enough. “Over there, the land of the lakes.”

“Where in the land of the lakes? On the big lake where the Roman fort is?”

“No nearer the sea, further away!” He gestured northwards.

Marcus turned to Gaelwyn who was chewing on a piece of liquorice root and cleaning his teeth. “Do you know where he is talking about?”

“There is another big lake not as big as the one you know but big.  Yes I know where the dogs are hiding.”

“Good.” He looked at the man. “Then you live. You can retrieve your spear trooper.” The trooper looked disappointed as he pulled it from the ground. “Keep them bound and we’ll decide what to do with them later. For the moment tether them to the wagons. “

When his raiding party failed to return Aed was not concerned for he had had desertions before. Chiefs who took their raiding party to other pickings. He had enough warriors still flocking in from every direction. They were the displaced warriors who sought a paymaster and Aed could still furnish arms and shelter. So far the Romans had not bothered him and he felt he had Fainch to thank for that.  Mona was still a thorn in Rome’s side.  He knew that sometime they would come which was why he had small groups of watchers on al the major routes in and out of the land of the lakes. When they came he would destroy them. His only fear was the presence of the legions; if they arrived he would find it hard to motivate his men to fight.  Too many of them had seen the relentless way they had slaughtered waves of their fellow warriors. The auxiliaries he could destroy, he had done so before and he would do so again. He had over two and a half thousand warriors and the goods he had stolen had made each one of them richer than they had been in their lives. Although he was still hopeful of recapturing the whole of Brigantia he was happy enough to rule this part.

He looked up as Modius entered the roundhouse. “Still no sign of Calgus then?”

“I told you he was too weak and too inexperienced to lead a warband.”

“Yes Modius but we need to blood the young leaders; you know that it is the Roman way.”

“Yes but the Roman way trains them.  I will lead my men and see if can find where he went.”

“Good. Check that our watchers are still doing their duty.”

The column made much better time as it travelled along the low coastal plain. They could see the sea in the distance but Marcus made sure they did not get close enough to lose either man or beast in the treacherous sands. Soon they saw the peaks rising in the distance and they knew they were getting close. Gaelwyn and Gaius with his turma left one morning on an extended patrol to see how far it was to the fort. They returned in mid afternoon. “We will be there tomorrow.”

“How does it look?” asked Decius who had made it quite clear to anyone who would listen what he felt about rebuilding the fort again.

“You can still see the ditches.  It looks much the way it was when it was dismantled.”

“Yeah and we haven’t got the legionaries to help us build it this time.”

“Stop moaning Decius.  We will be much more comfortable this time. It won’t be wooden and we won’t have to share it with foot soldiers.” Marcus pointed at the slaves driving the wagons. “And this time we have slaves to do some of the jobs that you and the lads hate.”

Decius sniffed, “Well I suppose if you put it like that.”

It was quite nostalgic for the older veterans who remembered the last time they had seen the lake, then they had been heading for the battle with Venutius under the command of Ulpius Felix for the last time. They pointed out features to the recruits as they passed them. “That was where we had stables.”

“We had a landing stage there.”

“That was a guard post.”

Marcus smiled for the recruits could only see lumps of discarded rotting wood but for the veterans they could see the building and hear their comrades now with the Allfather. When they arrived at the head of the lake Marcus was pleased that the outline of the fort was still visible. Laying the lines out again was not complicated but this simplified things and made it easier for them. “Build the camp here inside the old fort. Tomorrow we start to build. Gaius you and Decurion Demetrius can take out your turmae tomorrow.”

“Are we to find the bandits?”

“No not yet. Let’s get this built.  Just take a sweep from west to east.  You know the paths and lakes.  Show young Demetrius the lay of the land. We need to make everyone as familiar with this land as you and Decius.”

The next day Julius Demetrius was quite excited as he left the camp. Even in the early dawn Decius had the men mixing concrete and others chopping down trees. Gaius leaned over, “Confidentially we have got the best of the deal.  I would rather be riding than building. Ride next to me and I will explain the land to you.”

They headed north and Gaius halted them a mile and a half from the camp. He pointed out a knoll and a field filled with bleached bones. “That was where we halted the Brigante. That knoll had a tower and the young decurion on duty died along with half his turma. This is a dangerous land. We won’t see it today but there is a trail through those woods which goes along that escarpment. The Brigante used it to ambush us. You will see it better from the rise over there.”

With that he headed west and crossed a roaring river which fortunately barely covered the lower legs of the horses. They climbed steadily behind a hill until they emerged at the top and Julius could see the lake with the fort as well as two lakes to the north. “I see why they call it the land of the lakes.”

“There are many more lakes close to us hidden in little dells and coves.  You are never far from water here. Remember that.  Look yonder you can see the trail I told you of.”

“And yet we could not see it when we were next to it.”

“This is why the prefect wanted you to see the land. It cost us many men’s lives to discover that.”

The rest of the morning was spent gradually heading up the twisting trail to the north west. Julius could see that by using the trail you could see huge distances in every direction. When he mentioned this to Gaius nodded. “Yes but the drawback is you can be see by hidden watchers. Today we tell any watchers that the Romans are back.”

The watchers he mentioned were watching from the very trail Gaius had shown Julius. One of them was running back to Aed even as Gaius and Julius turned east to drop down to the narrow neck of land between two lakes. They rested their horses in a flat area between the two still pieces of water.  As they chewed on their stale bread Gaius pointed out where their Brigante allies had fought with the rebels.  “We nearly managed to destroy the whole warband but instead we lost some fine warriors that day.  Just there.”

The afternoon saw them climbing along the high escarpment to the east. “We will not go to the top but on the other side there is a dark valley and a long deep lake. We travelled up that way when we went to Brocavum and now we head back to see what Decius has managed in the way of building.” It was a pleasant ride back along the escarpment and then dropping down to the lakeside with the sun slowly setting over the incredibly still waters. When they crested the rise which overlooked the fort Julius was surprised to see the progress. “That’s because Decius hates building. The sooner it is built the sooner he can do what he likes doing best, killing Brigante.”

Aed was not surprised when the news reached him of the Roman incursion into his land. It had only been a question of time. Knowing that it was just the Pannonians made it sweeter for he wanted revenge and he knew that they must have many recruits in their ranks. Modius too was pleased. “I’ll finally get to gut that jumped up decurion Decius.”

“Patience.  Patience. We will choose the time we will choose the place. To reach us…”

“He doesn’t know where we are.”

“I suspect either Calgus or one of his rabble will have talked, it is no matter.  To reach us they will need to cross the high pass. We can easily stop them there if we have to but I want them observed. You served with them what will they do next?”

“Build a camp or a fort so that they have protection then send out patrols.”

“How many men?”

“One turma would be about forty but sometimes they send two.”

“Yes I remember.” Aed had almost massacred a single turma and would have but for the intervention of a second. “Good when we find their routine we will ambush and slaughter one of the turma. Our man did not know how many men there were but it cannot be more than a thousand.”

“Not even close to that with the men and horses they lost in the last battle.”

“Good then we will whittle them down.  We will maim their horses for they have no replacements.  We will ambush their foraging parties and, when they are weakest we will take their fort from them.”

Modius was not certain that they could achieve all that Aed hoped but his personal goal was the deaths of Decius and Marcus; anything else was a bonus. He would repay every scathing comment and rebuke with a wound and when they were begging for death he would emasculate them and then, only then would he end their miserable lives.

The following day Marcus sent out Lentius with Vettius, this time following a different route.  As he explained to his decurions, “All of you need to be familiar with the land here.  It is only a small area but it is full of high mountains, valleys and lakes.  We cannot travel in straight lines and the paths are few.  That is where the enemy has the advantage.  He can travel on foot where we cannot on horse.  He can take short cuts and we cannot.  I want every man in this ala to be able to get back here, on foot if needs be for before this campaign is over we will need every trooper we have.”