Danger in the Wind (15 page)

Brutus drew himself up and stared at the soldier as if he was back in the army. “I’m sure he’ll want to see us, lad, and he won’t want us kept hanging about. He’s expecting us.” His tone clearly indicated that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, and after a couple more exchanges, the chief guard sent one of his men off to headquarters to enquire.

“But we’re busy just now,” he added. “I’m afraid you may have a long wait.”

“We’ll wait,” Brutus said firmly, and added, “I can see you’ve got some sort of a panic on. What’s happening?”

The guard shrugged. “Nothing too serious. Some of the natives playing up, that’s all.”

“Just what you don’t need, when you’ve got an important visitor at the fort,” Brutus said.

The guard unbent a little. “You’ve heard about him, have you?”

“Aye, we’ve just come up from Eburacum. Look, can one of your boys get a stool for the lady?”

They fetched one, and while the two of them chatted I sat and looked around. Though this was quite a small fort, the familiar layout was reassuring. There were regular rows of barracks, workshops, stables, stores, all the usual buildings that keep an army going, with wide roads between, and the widest of all was the main street leading from the gate directly to the headquarters block. Everything was tidy, though some of the buildings looked a little dilapidated. The few men in evidence hurried on their various errands, and the sentries on the ramparts above marched purposefully and kept looking out, as if expecting some kind of attack.

“Here he is now,” one of the guards said, pointing. A couple of soldiers were marching towards us, supporting a man who was so drunk he couldn’t stand on his own. They steered him on a more or less straight course between the buildings, and as they approached us I realised with a shock that the drunk was Marcus. Greyer, fatter, and redder in the face than when I’d last seen him, but it was my cousin’s husband all right. No wonder, I thought, Jovina is asking for help.

He began to sing a bawdy song, till one of the men with him said, “Hush now, sir, you’ll wake the commander from his afternoon nap.”

The gate sentries showed no surprise or disapproval, but stood to attention and saluted. “You wanted Deputy Commander Mallius, ma’am?” the senior one asked. “Well, there he is. Doesn’t look as if he’s expecting you, though.”

The trio halted in front of us, and Mallius cast bleary eyes over Brutus and me. “By the gods, Aurelia Marcella! Surprise to see you. What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Marcus. We’re on our way to stay with Jovina. You remember? She invited us to her midsummer party.” I suddenly had the alarming thought that she might not even have told him I was coming.

He smiled fatuously. “Jovina? Of course, her party. I’ve been busy, you know. Under a lot of strain. But I remember now. Aurelia Marcella…Lucius’ sister.”

“That’s right, yes. But Lucius couldn’t come to the party, I’m afraid. He’s busy too.”

“Ah, Lucius, the dear boy.” He embarked on another song. “Lucius loved the ladies, the ladies of the town…”

I cut his performance short. “We won’t keep you when you’re so busy, Marcus. But we need directions to Jovina’s house please. Maybe one of your men could come along and show us the way?”

“Certainly. It’s easy enough to find, not far at all. Only not now. She’s not well, she’s in bed. She can’t see anyone today. Tomorrow maybe, I don’t know.”

“In bed? I’m sorry to hear that. What’s the matter with her?”

“Don’t ask me.” He shrugged. “Women’s trouble, that’s all I know. I’m only the husband, I don’t get told any of the details. Probably wouldn’t like them anyway. Too much blood usually where women’s troubles are involved. But she’s in a bad way, or she wouldn’t have said she couldn’t put you up tonight.” He hiccupped. “I could put some of you up here at the fort, but there isn’t much room really. I know—you can share my room, Aurelia, how about that?” He laughed uproariously and tried to take a step towards me, but his two companions prevented him.

“Father! So here you are.” A young soldier came to stand beside us, and he put a hand on Marcus’ shoulder. “Get yourself to bed now, sleep it off. I’ll deal with things here.”

“Philippus!” Marcus exclaimed. “Good lad, you’ve arrived just in time. Aurelia, this is my son Philippus. Philippus, this is Jovina’s cousin Aurelia Marcella. She’s coming to the party.”

“I know, that’s why I’m here.” He turned to me with a charming smile. “Welcome to Isurium, Aurelia. Mother sent me to meet you and help you settle in. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived.”

”I’m pleased to meet you, Philippus. Or should I say, meet you again? You were only a boy last time I saw you, so I wouldn’t have known you.”

“But I remember you. And you haven’t changed one bit,” he answered.

I laughed. “Thank you. I’m sure you say that to all the ladies.” In truth I hardly remembered him, and I certainly wouldn’t have expected he’d grow up so handsome. I suppose any young, healthy man in army clothes makes a striking figure, and this one was well groomed, his black hair fashionably long, indeed too long for a standard military cut. More to the point, he had a brisk air of purpose about him, in contrast to his father.

We shook hands, and I introduced Brutus. “Your father was just explaining that your mother isn’t well. How is she now?”

“She’s been very poorly, but I think she’s on the mend at last. Only she really isn’t up to entertaining anyone today. She sends her apologies, and hopes you’ll delay visiting her till she’s recovered a little. Tomorrow, I hope.”

“Poor Jovina. I’m so sorry.” Indeed I was, and not just for Jovina’s sake. If we couldn’t stay at her house, we’d need to look for accommodation at the mansio, and if the village was already full of Eurytus and his entourage, that might not be so easy. “Will there be room for us at the mansio, I wonder? Brutus, could you go over there straight away and…”

“Don’t worry, it’s all arranged,” Philippus said. “Mother asked me to book rooms for you there tonight, and make sure you settle in as comfortably as you can. I’ve just been to check, and it’s all in order. They’ll find room for all of you. How many are you?”

“I’ve got a young lady with me, Vitellia, my brother’s fiancée. She and I can share a room. We’ve just one maid, two drivers, and two guards. Brutus here is planning to look up an old friend at the fort, I think?”

“Aye, that’s right. I don’t need to add to the crush in the mansio.”

Philippus nodded. “The servants may find it a bit crowded, but they’ll have beds.”

“Thank you.” I was relieved, but then another worry occurred to me. “I do hope Jovina will have recovered in time for her party.”

“She will, she will,” Marcus answered. “It’s going to be a grand and glorious celebration. Everyone who’s anyone will be there.” He waved his arms to encompass the whole fort, if not the whole Empire. “She won’t want to miss it.”

Philippus looked less certain. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She insists that all she needs is a good rest, and she hopes to be able to receive you tomorrow morning.” He turned to his father. “Now off you go, Father, you need some rest too.” He added to the soldiers who were still holding Marcus upright, “Get him home to bed, you two.”

The three of them began to walk slowly away.

“I’m sorry about that,” Philippus said. “He’s been under a lot of strain lately, and now with Mama taken ill…he’ll be right as rain again soon.”

“There’ll be plenty of chance to see him later,” I said. “I think we’d better head straight for the mansio, don’t you?”

We clambered back into the carriages and set off behind Philippus, but we didn’t get very far. We had to halt by the main road, which divided the fort from the civilian village, because a large flock of sheep was spreading all across it. A shepherd boy was driving them, his two dogs moving them along unhurriedly while he strolled behind them, holding a little girl by the hand.

Philippus cursed mildly and called out, “Get a move on, boy, we haven’t got all day.”

“Sorry, sir,” the lad answered, but didn’t seem to progress any faster. I jumped down from the carriage to stand beside Philippus. It was pleasant in the warm sunshine, listening to the sheep-bells and watching the dogs keeping the flock together.

Then we heard the sound of marching men and moving vehicles. Philippus exclaimed, “Oh gods, here comes trouble. Look out behind, boy!” As he shouted, the peaceful atmosphere was shattered by a bugle-blast, and we saw a small convoy approaching from the south. A dozen soldiers, German auxiliaries by the look of them, marched smartly in step, followed by a large open carriage, then a smaller closed one, and six more Germans forming the rearguard.

The shepherd lad gave them one frightened glance and began shouting at his dogs, while the entourage came steadily on, making no attempt to slow down.

“Is this Lord Eurytus?” I asked.

Philippus was now standing rigidly to attention. “It is. You’ve heard of him, have you?”

“Yes. But not seen him, until now.”

So this was the man who was travelling Britannia upsetting everyone. He made a commanding figure as he sat in an open carriage pulled by two good-looking white horses. He was tall and dark, with an elaborate hairstyle, expensive clothes, and jewellery that caught the sunlight. But I only had a fleeting impression because the cavalcade still didn’t reduce speed, and I turned to watch as the front rank of soldiers reached the sheep and ploughed straight in among them, kicking out at any slow-moving animals in their path. The boy, the girl, and the dogs were doing what they could to clear their charges off the road, but they hadn’t a hope. As the carriages inexorably followed the infantry, the whole flock broke like a fleeing army, and scattered to the four winds. The two children had to jump for their lives as Eurytus’ raeda headed straight for them, almost running them down. One of the horses stumbled, perhaps alarmed by the milling sheep, and the carriage slowed slightly. The driver slashed at the boy with his long whip, but missed. Eurytus called out something I couldn’t hear, and one of the escort at the rear leapt sideways and pounced on the boy. He gave him a vicious blow on the head which knocked him to the ground, and added a couple of kicks before he rejoined the march. The girl ran off, crying.

I stood and stared in shocked disbelief as the small convoy turned off the main road and disappeared into the village. I heard Philippus swearing under his breath, and Brutus summed up my own feelings by saying, “By Mars, I’m no believer in mollycoddling natives, but that was unnecessary. Why couldn’t he just have waited a while? The road’s for everyone to use, not just jumped-up freedmen…”

“Careful!” Philippus hissed, making Brutus look round in alarm, but there was nobody about except our party. “Mind what you say, my friend. All of you. Eurytus comes direct from Caesar, with Imperial power to do whatever he likes. Those kids can think themselves lucky they got away without any permanent injuries, especially the little girl. Eurytus likes little girls, they say.”

I felt a stirring of anger, but suppressed it. He was a man to be feared, it seemed, and in any case this wasn’t my business. All the same I didn’t like it. “Gods, Philippus, is he always like that?”

He answered softly. “He’s been here since yesterday, and already everyone hates him. Romans and Brigantes, he’s upset everyone. There’ll be murder done if he doesn’t show some restraint.”

We looked over to where the boy was sitting up now, rubbing his head, while his sister crouched sobbing beside him.

Vitellia jumped down and came to stand beside me. “Aurelia, those poor children! Isn’t there something we can do to help? Maybe if their family are in the village, we can find someone to collect up the sheep for them. Look, they’ve scattered all over the fields.”

Philippus smiled at her, but shook his head. “If I were you I’d leave well alone. Their people will hear about this soon enough and come to help. And with things as they are, I don’t think any strangers, especially Romans, should go walking around the village unescorted. After an incident like this there’ll be bad feeling.”

The boy pointed along the road northwards. A large man, a farmer by his looks, was striding towards him, and the lad jumped up and shouted “Grandpa Brennus! Grandpa Brennus!”

The big man broke into a run and came to stand beside the children.

“Look,” Philippus said. “There’s his grandfather. He’ll be all right now.”

I remembered my conversation with Clarus about a Brigantian called Brennus. Could this be the man, a Roman citizen, likely to be made head of the tribal council here? Clarus had said he was powerful and already feared that Eurytus’ presence might cause trouble. How would he react when he saw what the freedman had done to his own family?

Philippus said, “We must be going now. I told the innkeeper I’d bring you to the mansio as soon as I could. With them being so busy, I don’t want them thinking you’re not coming and re-letting your rooms to someone else.” So we climbed back aboard the carriages and set off again.

It was a decent enough mansio, slightly larger than ours, clean, and with a reasonably sized stable-yard to the rear. Philippus ushered Vitellia and me into the barroom, leaving the rest to unload our luggage and see to the transport. A stout, greying man came forward to greet us.

“This is the innkeeper, Nonius,” Philippus said. “Nonius, these are the guests I told you about, come to stay with us for a few days once my mother is recovered from her illness. Make sure you look after them well.”