The Eagle's Prey Read online

  ‘You could try—’

  ‘Shut up, Cato. There’s a good lad.’ Macro rose out of the river and splashed back towards his tunic, spread on the bank. ‘Let’s get back to the camp. It’ll be your turn for questioning soon.’

  ‘Yes,’ Cato replied, following him on to the river bank. ‘Better figure out what I’m going to say.’

  ‘Don’t try anything clever, for my sake, eh? Just play it straight.’ Cato shrugged. ‘As you wish.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘At ease,’ Vespasian commanded, and Cato planted his feet apart, in line with his shoulders, and gripped his hands behind his back. He was standing inside the legate’s personal quarters, at the heart of the small network of tents that made up the Second Legion’s field headquarters. The side panels had been drawn up to admit the afternoon breeze and the ends of Vespasian’s thinning hair occasionally stirred as he reclined in his chair. At his side, on a stool, sat a clerk with several thin waxed slates resting on his knees.

  ‘Just to make sure you understand the situation,’ the legate began brusquely, ‘the general is conducting an inquiry into the events of yesterday. It is his contention that his orders were not obeyed and that as a consequence of this the enemy was permitted to escape the field with, between two and three thousand warriors including, as far as we know, Caratacus himself. Had the enemy been held at the ford then the entire army would have been forced to surrender and we would have been spared the butchery that occurred as they tried to escape. As a result, the campaign against Caratacus has been unnecessarily prolonged and the Empire has lost captives to the value of several million sesterces. Do you understand the gravity of the situation, Centurion Gaius Licinius Cato?’

  He paused, and from the toneless delivery of the short speech Cato realised he must have said exactly the same thing to the other five centurions he had interviewed. Cato understood the situation well enough but the formality with which he had been greeted and addressed by the legate had added a sense of menace to proceedings. He coughed to clear his throat.

  ‘Yes, sir. I understand.’

  ‘Good. Now, Centurion, I require you to describe, to the best of your understanding, the movements and actions of the Third Cohort yesterday. Try to keep it paced so that the clerk can keep up. It is vital that his record is as accurate as possible.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Cato concentrated his mind and began a detailed account of the march of the cohort towards the supply fort, the scene they found there, the orders for Macro’s century to find what tools they could from the fort and then head to the ford and start preparing defences while they waited for the rest of the cohort to arrive, once they had finished chasing down and destroying the raiders. He did not flinch from describing Maximius’ orders to blind the prisoners. He broke off his account to ask a question.

  ‘Has anyone been sent to find the prisoners, sir?’

  ‘Yes. A squadron of scouts went out this morning to find them and put them out of their misery.’

  ‘Oh …’

  ‘Please continue.’

  Cato described how the cohort had marched as fast as they could towards the ford, and that they had broken into a run once they spied the enemy assaulting Macro’s century; how they had seen Macro’s cohort falling back, and then quickly outlined the attempt made to hold the near side of the crossing before they were driven back and desperately fought their way to safety in the direction of the rest of the Second Legion.

  When he had finished Vespasian nodded and reached down to the clerk to read back over Cato’s evidence. He paused a few times to check it against other slates that Cato realised must be the results of the previous interviews. At length Vespasian took up a blank slate and a stylus and carefully made some notes before he looked up at Cato again.

  ‘Just a few questions, Centurion. Then you can go.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘At the fort, when Centurion Maximius gave the order to pursue the raiders, did you or any other officer point out that this was a breach of the orders your cohort had been given?’

  ‘Not me, sir. It’s not for me to question the word of a cohort commander. The others clearly felt the same, sir. Except Macro. He tried to point out that our orders required us to move to the ford by a specified time, and we were already behind schedule.’

  Vespasian raised an eyebrow. ‘But you’d left the marching camp in plenty of time. Why the delay?’

  ‘Troops seemed to be marching slower than I’d have liked, sir.’

  ‘Did anyone else notice?’

  ‘Someone might have made a comment. I can’t recall.’

  ‘Did Maximius notice?’

  ‘I don’t know, sir.’

  ‘Very well.’ The legate scribbled a note and ran his finger down the slate to his next question. ‘Did Maximius give any reasons for his order to go after the raiders?’

  ‘He didn’t have to, sir. He’s the cohort commander.’

  ‘Very well. In your view, why did the cohort commander ignore Centurion Macro and go after the raiders?’

  Cato knew that he was stepping on to much more sensitive ground now and would have to think carefully about his responses before he put them into words for the legate.

  ‘I suppose he was upset by the massacre of the fort’s garrison.’

  ‘He must have seen dead men before?’

  ‘Yes, but one – the commander of the fort – was a friend – a good one, it seemed.’

  ‘Are you saying that he disobeyed his orders on emotional grounds?’

  Cato froze. If he answered yes then his evidence might be damning. ‘I don’t know, sir. It’s possible that Centurion Maximius was concerned that the raiders might have posed a danger to the cohort if they moved against us while we attempted to defend the ford. He might have wanted to remove that threat.’

  ‘He might have,’ Vespasian repeated. ‘But you couldn’t know that if he never said anything about such a danger.’

  ‘No, sir.’

  Vespasian sniffed. ‘Just keep to what you know as fact from now on.’ ‘Sorry, sir.’

  ‘Next … when you came in sight of the ford and saw the enemy moving to take the island, would you say that Macro’s century offered the enemy much resistance?’

  ‘Much resistance, sir?’

  ‘All right then. For how long did they attempt to defend the crossing once they had caught sight of the rest of the cohort approaching?’

  Cato could see the implication of the question immediately, and for the first time began to fear for his friend. ‘It’s hard for me to say, sir. I was at the rear of the column.’

  Vespasian sighed and tapped his stylus against the slate. ‘Was he defending the crossing when you came in sight of it?’

  ‘No, sir. Some of the men were falling back. They were being covered by Macro and his rearguard. He had to fight his way back to the cohort.’

  ‘Could you see the fight from where you were on the far bank?’

  ‘Not quite, sir.’

  ‘Not quite?’

  ‘There were trees in the way, sir.’

  ‘So you had no way of knowing if Macro was forced back, or whether he simply abandoned his position?’

  Cato did not reply for a moment. He couldn’t. Even though a denial would not condemn his friend it would not save him either.

  ‘Sir, you know Macro. You know his quality. He’d never give way to an enemy until the last instant, and even then—’

  ‘That’s irrelevant, Centurion Cato,’ Vespasian responded curtly. ‘I’m still waiting for an answer to my question.’

  Cato stared at his legate helplessly, before he finally spoke. ‘No … I couldn’t see the fighting on the island.’

  Vespasian made a note, and then looked up and stared searchingly at Cato. Here it comes, the centurion thought. He’s saved the toughest question until last. Cato focused his mind.

  ‘Just one more issue I need to clear up, then you can go. When the Third Cohort reached the
ford there was an attempt to hold the enemy back, I understand.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘How effectively, in your opinion, was this defence prosecuted?’

  Images of the desperate fight shimmered in and out his memory before Cato forced himself to reflect more objectively on the conduct of the cohort.

  ‘We were outnumbered, sir. We were forced to give ground.’

  ‘Forced to?’

  ‘Yes, sir. Once they had pushed us back from the ford they threatened to outflank us. We had to pull back or be wiped out.’

  ‘Has it occurred to you that if the Third Cohort had been a little more resolute and held their ground then the battle would have been a complete success?’

  ‘Of course it has, sir. But, with respect, you weren’t there …’

  The clerk sucked in his breath nervously and risked a glance at his legate. Vespasian looked furious at having been spoken to in such a manner by the most junior centurion in his legion. For a while he continued to glare at Cato and then he clicked his fingers at the clerk. ‘Delete that last remark from the record.’

  While the clerk reversed his stylus and used the flat end to erase the offending statement Vespasian addressed the centurion quietly.

  ‘In view of your previous service record I’ll let that one pass. Next time you won’t find me so forgiving. I want you and the others to remain in camp. No more swimming. You may be called on without notice. Dismissed!’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Cato stood to attention, saluted, turned smartly and marched out of the tent. He walked slowly back towards the Third Cohort’s station. The baggage train had arrived earlier in the afternoon, and after a quick meal the legionaries had erected their tents. Instead of the long lines of kit there were now hundreds of goatskin tents ranged in ordered lines stretching out on both sides of the Praetorian Way, and the men had stowed their equipment inside and now slept in the shade or chatted quietly in small groups outside in the sunshine.

  Back amongst his men, Cato found his own tent and saw that a camp bed had been set up for him. He slumped down on it and started to unfasten his harness. A shadow partially blocked the light streaming in through the tent flaps, he looked up and there was Macro.

  ‘I saw you coming back. How did it go?’

  ‘Badly. Everything I said seemed to go the wrong way.’

  ‘I know,’ Macro smiled bitterly. ‘But you’re not usually at a loss for words.’

  ‘No. But nothing I said seemed to make a difference. I think the legate’s already made his mind up about what happened.’ Cato stopped fiddling with his buckles and looked down at the ground. ‘I think we’re in trouble … deep trouble.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Shortly before dusk Vespasian headed across the Tamesis to report to General Plautius in the main camp. He carried the results of his interviews in a large pannier bag hanging across the horse’s back behind his saddle. The auxiliary units had been busy during the day, digging huge pits a short distance away from the crossing. The bodies of the Britons massacred the previous evening were still being dragged away and the crushed grass where they had been heaped was dark with their dried blood. Vespasian’s horse wrinkled its nostrils nervously at the smell hanging in the air and he urged it on, anxious to reach the ridge and leave the unsettling scene behind him.

  Inside the camp the legate dismounted outside the general’s headquarters and signalled to one of the guards to carry his pannier bags. A clerk ushered him into Plautius’ tents as the last glimmer of the sun set on the horizon. Inside the headquarters the general’s staff were busy with the administrative consequences of the previous day’s battle. There were afteraction reports that needed collating for the official history: logging of unit strength returns; compiling weapons and supplies inventories; recording the numbers of the enemy dead and preparing orders for the next stage of the campaign. It was nearly September, Vespasian reflected, and Plautius had hoped to be firmly entrenched on the banks of the Sabrina by autumn when the rain and mud would bog the legions down.

  Now that Caratacus’ army had been all but eliminated, the enemy would be limited to small operations – at least until large numbers of fresh tribal levies could be raised, armed and given some basic training. The warrior caste that had formed the backbone of his army had been whittled away over the last year and only a small cadre remained. Amongst them, in all likelihood, Caratacus himself. And while he lived the spirit of resistance would still smoulder in the hearts of the Britons, threatening all the while to flare up in the faces of the Roman invaders.

  Vespasian frowned. That bloody man had far more than his fair share of luck. Far more, at least, than the thousands of natives being buried down by the river.

  General Plautius was examining a large map spread across a table when Vespasian was ushered into his presence. The other legates and senior tribunes stood round him. Vespasian caught the eye of his older brother, Sabinus, and nodded a greeting. Seated to one side of the table, and looking thoroughly bored, was Narcissus, painstakingly peeling a pear with an ornate dagger.

  The general glanced up. ‘Vespasian, you’ve joined us at an interesting moment. We’ve just had the reports in from the mounted units.’

  Vespasian nodded to the soldier who had carried the bags and he set them down beside one of the leather sides of the tent, and then withdrew. Vespasian joined the others at the table.

  The map was made up from finely cured hides upon which the general’s staff continually added new geographical features. The disposition of Roman forces was marked by red painted blocks of wood with unit identifiers cut into the top surface. There was no sign of any enemy markers on the map.

  The general cleared his throat with a small cough. ‘We know that a number of the enemy escaped us yesterday, perhaps as many as five thousand. I ordered our cavalry to pursue them and cut them down. So far they claim to have killed at least another two thousand, before they came up against a vast expanse of wetlands … here.’

  Plautius leaned forward and tapped the map some ten to fifteen miles south and west of the crossing. ‘The downs quickly give way to a marsh. That’s where the survivors gave our cavalry the slip. But only after they turned on our cavalry and started to fight back. We began to lose men so the cavalry withdrew and now they’re screening the approaches to the marsh. So, we’re faced with a pretty little conundrum, gentlemen. We could ignore these survivors for the moment. After all, there can’t be too many left. Certainly not enough to significantly threaten our operations. On the other hand, they will undoubtedly recover their nerve fairly quickly and make a nuisance of themselves. As such they will act as an inspiration to any tribes still thinking of opposing Rome. Our immediate goal, then, is to finish the job and destroy whatever’s left of Caratacus’ army, and, of course, Caratacus himself, assuming he survived yesterday’s battle.

  ‘We need to make the most of the situation while Caratacus is licking his wounds. Since there’s no significant enemy force left to oppose us we can at last afford to disperse our forces and consolidate our gains. If we move swiftly we can lay down a network of forts and roads across the heartlands of Britain. Once that’s done the tribes will not be able to move without us knowing about it. Should be a simple policing operation from then on. To that end …’

  Plautius reached for one of the markers and placed it away to the east, in position just outside the boundary of the lands the map ascribed to the Iceni, a tribe that had declared itself for Rome the previous year. The general then turned towards an older officer, Hosidius Geta — legate of the Ninth Legion.

  ‘ … the Ninth will move there, establish a base and start probing north with auxiliary troops, establishing small forts along your lines of advance. The tribes in that area are nominally allied to us. That’s fine, but I want a display of strength, understand? You make it clear to them that Rome is here to stay. No marching camps. I want permanent structures, and I want them to look imposing.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Geta smiled
eagerly. ‘Trust me, sir. I’ll sort them out.’

  ‘No!’ Plautius stabbed a finger towards him. ‘That’s precisely what I want to avoid. We’ll be thinly spread and I want no man here giving the natives an easy excuse to rise up. Once your forces are in place I want you to go out of your way to cultivate good relations with local chieftains. Go hunting with them. Get your engineers to build them bridges, baths, comfortable villas – whatever it takes to get them on our side and make them appreciate the benefits of joining the Empire. I want these boghopping barbarian bastards Romanised as soon as possible. Once that’s done we can think about extending the province west and north.’

  He gestured towards the lands of the Silurians and the Brigantians, and the officers registered surprise at the scope of his ambitions. Plautius observed their reactions and smiled. ‘That’s work for the future, gentlemen. All in good time … The Twentieth will continue to advance north of the Tamesis, then cut across to the river Sabrina and establish its base there. I’ll be marching with the Twentieth, so Legate Sulpicius Piso will have to double the guard on his fine collection of wines.’

  The officers laughed politely and then the general turned to Sabinus. ‘You’ll have the strongest column. I want you to move directly north. To here.’ Plautius pushed the Fourteenth Legion’s marker across the map to a point between the Twentieth and the Ninth. ‘I want you to start construction of a road to link all three legions. That way we can concentrate our forces quickly, should we ever need to. Gentlemen, the end is in sight. Rome can at last consider these lands to be part of the Empire. In a few more years Britain will be a fully functioning province, paying taxes into the imperial treasury.’

  ‘I rather think that the people back in Rome already regard this vile land as part of the Empire …’

  The officers’ heads turned towards Narcissus, who had started peeling another pear as he spoke and did not return their gaze.

  ‘After all, the Emperor had his triumph through the streets of the capital at the end of last year. You fellows are just doing the mopping-up. I’d remember that if I were you. To imply that the Emperor had somehow fallen short in his conquest of the Britons might smack of treason to some people.’ Narcissus lowered his dagger, popped a dripping slice of fruit into his mouth and smiled. ‘A word of advice on how to phrase your official reports, that’s all. No offence intended. Please continue, my dear General.’