Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 11] Roman Treachery (27 page)

“Get the doctor Julius.”

Julius left the sick bay and saw the doctor close by the barracks.  “Doctor, the prefect… er the patient needs…”

As the two men ran off someone saw them.  A trooper strolled casually towards the Governor’s quarters and began to whistle a tune.  A few moments later Vibia emerged.  They walked towards the stable smiling at each other as though engaged in some trivial conversation.  “The prefect lives.”

“Then it will not take him long to discover that I was the one who poisoned his wine.”

“You must leave.”

“Yes but first I have something to do.  Prepare me a horse and I will need some auxiliary armour. I will meet you in the stables soon.”

When the doctor reached Livius he smiled as he examined the vomit filled bowl.  “Excellent! It is just as I had hoped and expected.  We have the last of the poison.  See the red tinged parts.”

Julius Demetrius wrinkled his nose. “You doctors may enjoy sifting through vomit but as for me.  You could have told us this might happen.”

The Greek look surprised. “Do I ask you why you send men here there and everywhere to come back maimed? No! Then let me do my job.  Plenty of water and he will recover.  He will be weak for a few days but he will be as though he was never poisoned.”

The two men were left exasperated as the doctor calmly departed with an arrogant flounce. They poured water down his throat and he opened his eyes to give them a weak smile. “The last time I was as ill as that we had just wet Marcus’ head!”

“Take your time Livius.  You were about to tell us who gave you the wine.”

“Oh yes.” He closed his eyes, picturing the evening before. “It was, Lucia, she handed me the wine.”

“Lucia, I have just heard the prefect lives!”

“But Vibia, we were told that he had died.”

“Apparently they were wrong. Come let us drink a libation to celebrate.”

“It is a little early is it not?”

Vibia leaned in, her green eyes sparkling maliciously, “I was told that the first word he spoke was, ‘
Lucia
’.”

The young companion’s eyes lit up.  “Oh Vibia! That is wonderful news. “She took the beaker and drank it off in one swallow, the joy in her eyes glinting for their last moments of life.  Suddenly she did as Livius had done.  Her body doubled in pain and she writhed on the floor, a white and green phlegm vomiting from her corrupted stomach.  Her eyes pleaded for an answer but Vibia was already scrawling a note which she placed in the dead hand of the glassy eyed Lucia.

She departed quickly and met her brother at the stables.“I have laid a false trail.  They will think it was Lucia.”

“Then why cannot you stay?”

“You know as well as I brother, that the prefect is a clever man.  He will soon deduce that it was me.  I have bought some time for myself. I will stay in Eboracum again. You will find me in the vicus.“ She sadly stroked her red hair as she pushed it beneath the helmet. “I will cut my hair and change the colour.  They will not know me.” They embraced and she mounted the horse.  “How do I look?”

“Like one of the recruits. The pass today is, ‘
pugeo
’.”

“Thank you and take care.  Do not let the barbarians kill you.”

Vibia rode confidently towards the southern gate down the Via Praetoria. The sentry at the gate held up his hand. “Message for Morbium.”

“And?”

“Sorry?”

“The pass? Some of you troopers are dumber than your fucking horses.”

“Sorry. Pugeo!”

“That’s better. Have a safe journey.”

With a wave of her hand Vibia daughter of Aula rode from the frontier running from danger to even more danger but, she was free and she was alive.  Her mother’s plans could still come to fruition.

Chapter 19

Leaving Livius in the care of Julius the legate sought Metellus and Rufius.  He told them of his discovery.  “Go to the Governor’s quarters and stop any from leaving.  I will, perforce, need to speak with the Governor first and apprise him of the problem.”

“Are you sure it was that Lucia?  She seemed like an empty headed little girl to me.”

“Livius knows that she handed him the wine and he is busy trying to remember the other details. But we knew it was one or the other and we can now confront them. The Governor will have to sanction interrogation.”

Metellus shuddered. The interrogators used any all methods to get at the truth. “We will order the fort closed up too.  Rufius, see to it.”

The Governor and his wife were in the small dining room which they used for their lunch. Julius knew that this would be a difficult meeting.  He had deliberately lied to the Governor of the province of Britannia.  They had watched the flames rising the previous day and said goodbye to the prefect and now he would have to tell him that he lived still. He took a deep breath. “Governor Nepos I had some good news and some grave news to impart.”

Flavia stood, “I will leave you two then.”

“No domina, it concerns you as well.” She sat with a puzzled look upon her face. “The prefect, Livius, whom you thought dead, lives. He was poisoned.”

“But the funeral…”

“A deception we had to use in order to protect the prefect.  We now believe that the poisoning attempt in Eboracum was made by the same person who tried to kill him at the dinner.  We needed him to recover enough to tell us who poisoned him.”

Flavia put her hand to her mouth, “But we were at that dinner! We too could have…”

Julius held up a hand. “The doctor and Livius believe he was given poisoned wine.”

“But we all drank the same wine!”

“Yes Governor which is how we know who it was.  The poison was put into his beaker only.  He said that Lucia, your companion, handed him the beaker but it could have been either or both of the girls who put the deadly potion in the wine.”

“Impossible!” Flavia stood up, red faced and angry. “We will see the girls and get to the bottom of this immediately!”

“Which is just what I had in mind.  Shall we all go?” Julius would leave the thorny matter of the interrogators until later.

Lady Flavia tapped on the door of the girls’ quarters. “Lucia, Vibia?  May we come in?”

There was no reply and, when the Governor gave a subtle nod Julius opened the door. There lay Lucia with the note in her hand, her body already contorted and stiff.  Flavia fainted and Julius caught her. “Metellus send for the doctor.” Aulus Nepos threw a look at Julius, wondering at the presence of the decurion princeps; the legate merely shrugged. “I wanted no-one fleeing and security seemed top be the best option.”

By the time Flavia came to the note had been read. “Well this seems quite clear.  Apparently she wanted Livius so much that she poisoned him to stop anyone else having him.”

The doctor looked up, a sceptical look on his face. “Excuse me legate but I had some cause to treat the young lady.” He pulled a face.  “She always seemed to have minor disorders whenever she came here. It strikes me that she had neither the wit nor the means to acquire this poison. She was a pleasant girl but I have sat on seats with more brains and guile.  Now the other one, she could have done it for she was intelligent and knowledgeable.  When she was returned from the Votadini I found her to be made of sterner stuff than many troopers.” He shrugged, “Of course that is just the opinion of an old doctor.”

Metellus and Rufius both nodded.  “I have to say sir that we agree.”

“Let us not jump to conclusions.  Search the fort and find her.  I am a little concerned that she is not here.  Where is she?” Aulus Nepos had a horrible feeling that they had been deceived by the affable young lady.

When she could not be found there was a worry that she too might be found dead and then Rufius took it upon himself to question the sentries at the gates. It was almost dusk when he returned. Flavia had gone to her bed, drugged by the doctor. Aulus and Julius were at a loss to explain it all. Rufius strode into the office and his dark face told the story. “It seems our Vibia rode out of the main gate this morning dressed as a trooper.  She had the password and she rode south.”

“So she has escaped but that still begs the question why did she try to kill the prefect?  She did not appear to be Brigante.  Was she paid? Is there some plot here of which we know little?”

Aulus Nepos shook his head.  “These things are heard of in far off Rome but I had not expected them here in my own home, on the frontier.” He glanced up at the legate. “It is obvious that we cannot remain here, besides which you now know my plans and I am happy that you will see them through to their conclusion. I require two turmae from you as an escort with one of your two senior decurion in command.  They can search for Vibia when we are safely ensconced in Eboracum.”

Although Julius could ill do without Rufius it was a small price to pay to get the fort and the frontier back to normality.  “Very well.  I will tell Rufius he is to escort you.”

Rufius was less than pleased with the news. “Sir, we will be escorting a closed carriage which will take forever to reach the fortress and my place is here on the frontier.  Without the prefect we are shorthanded as it is.”

“Which is why you will take the prefect’s turma and you can train up the chosen man on the way to Eboracum.  It is time the prefect stuck to administration for a while. Take Gnaeus with you.  He is coming on well as an officer.”

He could see that he had no room to manoeuvre and reluctantly nodded is agreement. “Very well we will leave in the morning.” He threw a dark look in the direction of the Governor’s quarters.  “Early!!”

Appius was extremely tired as the turma returned, after dark, to the fort. The sentries were particularly vigilant which irritated the aide but intrigued the decurion. “What on earth is the matter with you?  I am the Governor’s aide and you have all seen me enough to recognise me.”

“Take it easy, Appius.  I would rather they were this keen and we were safe wouldn’t you?”

The aide gave a grudging nod.  He was desperate for the bath house and a good meal.  He had to admit he had seen a whole new side to the military in his day beyond the frontier. He had emptied his bowels on at least three occasions.  Marcus had smiled and told him that was normal on the first patrol where you saw a blue painted face behind every rock. As they dismounted the aide put out his arm, “Thank you decurion.  I have much to think on.”

Marcus shook his head as the Roman abandoned his horse; he was a patrician, others tended your horses. The decurion led the two mounts to the stalls.  “Never mind boy, he did appreciate the ride you gave him although he did not show it.”

Marcus was surprised to see Rufius and the two turmae already there, making the stables quite crowded. “How was it today Marcus?  Did you manage to avoid punching the young patrician?”

“He’s not so bad when you give him a chance and get by the arrogance but what is going on?” Rufius took him to one side and gave him an account of the day’s events.  “Vibia?” he shook his head.  “Mind you I should have suspected something when we rescued her.  She had more resilience than I would have expected. Do you think she was in league with the Votadini and Brigante?”

“After this day nothing would surprise me but I do not think so. The tribes would have behaved differently once we had rescued her otherwise. And remember we only discovered Scaeva because of her.”

“I suppose you are right. So you ride tomorrow?”

“Yes I don’t expect to be back for a week which makes you second in command until Livius is up and about again.  Metellus will need all the help he can get.”

If Marcus was surprised then Appius Serjenus was devastated. The shock of the poisoning of the prefect and the death of Lucia was nothing compared with the knowledge that he had been courting a murderer! He had had a lucky escape and the journey back to Eboracum seemed, to him to be a sign from the gods that his future lay in what passed for civilisation.

Flavia was still heavily drugged as the two turmae and the carriage set off south. Aulus Nepos was pleased that, the death apart, he had ensured that his plans and his grand vision for the frontier would go through. Walking back to the Principia the legate and Metellus were discussing just what they would actually do now that the Governor had departed.

“First of all, Metellus, I think that it is impractical to build a stone fort where he wants to.  I want the thing up quickly so that your troopers can get back to protecting the frontier.  We shall build in turf and wood.  That way we can let the Dacians build it themselves while you watch them. For the rest we will finish the wall and the existing forts first and then we will make them look pretty and think about building the extra ones.”

“I hear he want forts in the heart of the Selgovae and Votadini land?”

“He does.”

“That is a recipe for disaster.  I thought the Emperor wanted a wall which marked the end of Roman domination.”

“Yes, Metellus and so did I.” He rubbed his hands.  “Now that he has gone let us concentrate on getting supplies up the Stanegate. I want a big push.  Get your ala, all of them, north of the wall, especially near the site of the new Dacian fort and chase the barbarians from morning until night.  Your turmae can bunk with the legions.  I can’t see them objecting.” Metellus pulled a face.  “And if they do it matters not; that is an order.”

Marcus led Lucius out again the next day, with Sextus as the third turma.  As he had surveyed the site Metellus felt he was better prepared, and as he said quietly, better experienced than the other officers. “Stay with the Sixth.  It shouldn’t be a problem.  They think highly of you.”

“I’ll sweeten it with some venison or wild pig.  Felix appears to be missing his hunting.”

“Wild pig?”

“I might have to help him with that.”

They rode down the Stanegate to make better time although soon the military road which was being built closer to the wall would shorten the journey still further. “When we get there I will take half the turmae to the northern forest.  That will be you Lucius with me.  Sextus take the other half and patrol the area to the west of the site. When we are sure the forest is clear of scouts Felix and I will engage in a little hunting.”