The Eagle's Vengeance (40 page)

He tossed a shining gold coin at the tribune, watching as the other man caught it and looked down at the coin nestling in his palm.

‘It’s an attractive design, if a little unconventional …’

‘How did you—’

‘How did I get this? Camp Prefect Castus has gathered men of dubious but valuable skills to him for as long as I’ve known him. And when I discovered that he had a highly skilled thief in his retinue, I prevailed upon him to see if the man could provide me with any evidence of my strong suspicions with regard to the contents of those heavy chests that you were there to meet off the boat at Arab Town. You see it’s just not usual for legionary pay chests to come from anywhere but Rome, in my experience. The throne likes to gather all imperial funds to itself before distributing a share to the provinces, as a means of ensuring that the only embezzlement which takes place is that which has been officially sanctioned. And so the sight of so much gold coming into the province in such an unorthodox manner piqued my curiosity. Procurator Avus was momentarily distracted by the sight of Centurion Corvus here dealing rather brutally with a pair of Sarmatae swordsmen who had apparently sought to challenge him to a somewhat more robust sparring session than usual, enough time for the now sadly deceased Tarion to lift a coin from his purse and replace it with another. And you can imagine just how many more questions were raised for me when I actually got to take a good look at one of them, and for the camp prefect for that matter. After all, I may only be an equestrian, but even I can put two and two together.’

Sorex shook his head violently, holding up a hand.

‘I was simply told to restore the legion’s morale with the new eagle. I really had no idea …’

Scaurus’s voice was flat, devoid of any emotion, but it cut the young prefect off in mid-flow with the power of a slap.

‘Oh, but you really
did
, didn’t you, what with a fake eagle for you to “discover”, and enough gold to buy the loyalty of three legions with three new legati on their way to take command. And lastly, with orders to send my cohort north to its almost certain destruction? Come on Sorex, you knew only too well that you were playing a dangerous game that was intended to provide the manpower for an equestrian coup against the throne, and the senate for that matter. Commodus had abdicated his power to Perennis, and the praetorian prefect sees no reason not to make the arrangement permanent it seems with his sons’ Pannonian legions, which I’d guess he will call south once he has confirmation that the Britannia legions are marching on Rome; there’ll be no force capable of retaking the capital other than the army in Germania. But then this gold came to Britannia via Germania, which means that the governors of the German provinces have probably agreed to sit on their hands and watch without intervening. And of course the Praetorians will be happy enough to see their leader take full control of the empire, given that he’ll doubtless reward them even more handsomely than the common soldiery. Everyone wins, don’t they, Fulvius Sorex? I suppose that even your father can expect to have some part in the new regime, once the senate has been strong-armed into acclaiming Perennis as emperor, presumably with Senator Sorex leading the cheers of assent?’

The tribune spat his reply, his eyes blazing with anger.

‘
We have no choice!
If we fail to do as we’re ordered then our entire family will be excised from existence. Do you have any idea what a man will do to avoid the threat of having his line extinguished from history? You’ve been away from the capital for too long, Rutilius Scaurus, and you simply have no idea just how dangerous Rome has become in the last few years …’

His voice tailed off as Marcus stepped forward and fixed him with a murderous look.

‘You’re right, of course …’ Scaurus kept his tone light. ‘I really don’t know what it might feel like to see my entire family killed by an all-powerful man fixated on the objective of taking the throne. But Centurion
Corvus
here does. And perhaps on this very rare occasion we can use his real name. This, Fulvius Sorex, as I expect you know all too well, is Marcus Valerius Aquila. You may recall the murder of
his
entire family two years ago. He’s the reason why you were ordered to send an entire auxiliary cohort north to meet its doom, as a means of dealing with this fugitive from the praetorian prefect’s justice. And it was his wife, I ought to add, that Legatus Equitius caught you in the act of raping, using the threat of murder against a newborn child as your leverage for her complicity.’

Sorex backed away a step, raising his hands as Marcus paced forward to stand stonefaced before him. Scaurus shrugged, picking up the false eagle and examining it closely for a moment.

‘This really is a very nicely executed piece of work.’ He dropped it back onto the table. ‘It’s a pity to see such craftsmanship turned to such a shoddy purpose. But then inanimate objects are neither good nor evil in themselves, they are simply wielded by whatever cause possesses them. So it’s a good thing that Prefect Castus took the precaution of having all that gold removed from the storeroom and spirited away to a safe place when the opportunity arose.’

Sorex gave the camp prefect an incredulous look.

‘You moved the fucking
gold
?!’

The veteran officer nodded equably.

‘When it became clear that you weren’t to be trusted, Fulvius Sorex, yes I took that precaution. I’ve had it taken somewhere where it will provide a little less of a temptation for the wrong sort of person.’

‘But I gave specific orders for it to be guarded at all times!’

Castus smiled tightly.

‘I know. And hurtful though it may be for you to realise it, when an officer with thirty years’ service and a dozen scars to bear witness to them requests the assistance of his legion’s senior centurions, they tend to take somewhat more notice of him than of a military tribune whose most dangerous exploit seems to have been escorting the emperor’s favourite catamite on his daring shopping expeditions into the Subura.’ He strolled forward, patting Marcus on the shoulder. ‘You see, the Centurionate has an endearing tendency towards the preservation of their legion’s honour above all else, and so when I revealed to the first spear that your marvellous rescue of the eagle was in fact a sham, it was all I could do to prevent him from taking his gladius to you, and bugger the consequences. Moving the gold, once I told him that it was intended for use in setting his legion on a path to treachery and possible disaster, was a relatively easy sell.’

Scaurus nodded sagely.

‘And after all, it’s an integral part of my plan.’

‘Your …
plan
?’

Scaurus waved a hand at Marcus, and turned his attention back to the captured eagle. The young centurion stepped closer to the terrified tribune, one hand tapping on the hilt of his gladius.

‘This sword belonged to the Sixth Legion’s legatus. He left it for me when he was killed, hidden beneath the body of the last man to carry that eagle, because he was my birth father. His legion was betrayed by another of Prefect Perennis’s sons, which means that both of my fathers were killed as the consequence of the praetorian prefect’s plans to take the throne. Now that we have all the proof we’ll ever need to see him executed we’re going to deliver that evidence to Rome, and alert the emperor to the danger he faces from his right-hand man.’

Sorex shook his head in amazement.

‘You can’t just march on
Rome
; you’ll be stopped before you even reach the south coast of the province. Once the new legati arrive and find out what you’ve done they’ll send the legion cavalry after you with orders for you to return, and if you fail to obey then you’ll be hunted down and then put to the sword in very short order.’ He shook his head at Castus sadly. ‘And you, Prefect, will find yourself on your way home as a civilian if you’re
lucky
!’

‘You’re right, of course …’ Scaurus shrugged easily. ‘If Perennis’s placemen find out what we’ve done then they’ll certainly bring the full weight of their authority to bear on us in order to get that gold back. The thing is, Fulvius Sorex, you have to ask yourself one simple question.’ He lowered his voice to a whisper, bending close to his colleague. ‘
Who’s going to tell them?
’

The younger man stared up at him for a moment before the realisation of Scaurus’s explicit threat hit him, his eyes widening in horror.

‘You
don’t
mean …’

‘You have to admit there’s an inescapable logic to my question.’ Scaurus raised an eyebrow at his colleague. ‘There are only a very few people who might alert the legati to what’s happened here, when they eventually arrive. The Sixth’s first spear is most unlikely to do so. He’s already made sure that the men who moved the gold are in no position to tell anyone else where they took it, since he had them marched off up the road to the Wall to strengthen one of the more remote garrisons the moment the job was done. Which leaves you, Fulvius Sorex. And if
you’re
not here to tell them that we’ve taken the gold with us then they’ll be none the wiser, will they?’

He stood in silence, waiting for Sorex to respond while the young tribune looked about him as if searching for some way out of the situation.

‘But surely … I mean …’

‘Don’t panic, colleague, I’m not ready to put a fellow officer to death quite yet, we do have civilised standards of behaviour to maintain after all. But I’m sure you can see my quandary. If I leave you alive you’re sure to inform the legati of what I’ve done, aren’t you?’

‘Not necessarily.’

‘Really?’ Scaurus looked at him sceptically. ‘What guarantee do I have that you won’t renege on whatever we agree just as soon as I’m no longer a threat to you?’

‘My word as a Roman gentleman, Rutilius Scaurus!’ The younger man jumped to his feet, holding out a hand palm uppermost. ‘I’ll swear to you now on whichever god you choose that I’ll tell the praetorian prefect’s men nothing!’

Scaurus nodded, turning to Castus with a questioning look.

‘What do you think, Prefect? After all, I’ve no desire to spill blood in a legion headquarters.’

The older man shrugged.

‘I share your reticence to dishonour this place. And it’s hardly Fulvius Sorex’s fault if he happens to find himself a victim of unhappy circumstance.’

‘Very well colleague, we’ll let you live. There is, however, the small matter of making your silence on the subject of our whereabouts look convincing. Surely the record of our presence in the headquarters tonight will leave you open to the question as to why you didn’t simply call out the guard to take us captive, if you had even the slightest suspicion as to our intentions? No, we have to make this look more convincing …’

Castus held up a hand, reaching into a belt pouch for a small bottle.

‘One of the curses of thirty years’ service is that I tend to be troubled by the ghosts of men long dead. On those infrequent occasions when I find myself unable to sleep, a few drops of this extract of certain medicinal herbs puts me to sleep as quickly as a lamp being snuffed.’

Scaurus turned back to his colleague.

‘There you have it, the perfect answer. You will consume enough of the Prefect’s draught to put you to sleep for the night, and I’ll tell the duty centurion that you’re so drunk that I couldn’t get any sense out of you. After all, it isn’t every day that a man gains the glory of having regained his legion’s eagle, is it? You could be forgiven for having taken a cup or two of wine on board, I would have thought?’

Sorex nodded, the relief he was feeling transparent to every man in the room.

‘And a good night’s sleep thrown into the bargain. Of course, it’s an excellent idea.’

He reached for the wine flask, pouring two cups of wine and handing one to Scaurus, then turned and offered the other to Castus with a small bow. The camp prefect carefully tipped his medicine bottle to allow three drops of the dark, oily mixture to drip into the cup, chatting to the tribune as he did so.

‘I must warn you, even this diluted the draught is almost revoltingly sweet. The best way to consume the drink is to tip it straight back, or you may find yourself so put off that you’re unable to force the rest down your neck. Here’s one more drop for good luck, eh? Gods below but you’ll sleep well tonight, and I have to warn you that you may have a bit of a headache when you wake up …’

Every man in the room started as the sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard rasped out, and all eyes turned to Marcus as he stepped forward with Legatus Sollemnis’s eagle’s-head-pommelled sword shining in the lamplight.

‘You’re going to let him live? The traitor who sent us north to The Fang with the intention of having the Venicones overrun an entire cohort in the hope of killing just one man? The bastard who’s been trying every trick at his disposal to put my wife on her back despite knowing her to be an honourable Roman matron?’

He advanced towards the terrified tribune with a look of unbridled fury, raising the gladius until its point was aimed squarely at his face. Scaurus raised a hand to Julius, who was readying himself to leap at his friend from behind, forestalling the attack as he stepped into his centurion’s path.

‘Centurion Corvus, lower your sword. You know that there is no honour to be gained from revenge taken in this way. And besides, you can console yourself with the knowledge that Fulvius Sorex will have a lifetime to regret the choices he made in this matter.’

He stared at Marcus steadily, watching as the young Roman looked first at Sorex, still rooted to the spot with fear, and then darted a glance at Castus, who simply raised his eyebrows in reply. Nodding slowly in recognition of the tribune’s order, he sheathed the sword and stepped back into the shadows alongside Julius, ignoring the glare that the first spear played upon him. Heaving a sigh of relief, Scaurus beckoned the camp prefect forward, and watched as Castus handed the wine cup to the red-faced Sorex with a wink.

‘Remember, down in one’s the only way to tolerate the sickly taste.’