Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 06] Druid's Gold Read Free Page B

witch Morwenna and make it safe for Ailis and her children.”
     

Chapter 2
    Optio Septimus Aurelius was pleased to be out in the wild again and away from the camp. Although he had been with the Ninth legion for over twenty years he preferred the detachment duties better.  He was old for his rank but he was an engineer.  The six men with him were almost young enough to be his grandchildren but they were a good team.  They were all eager to learn from the most experienced engineer in the Ninth. They had spent the night in the deserted fort of Glanibanta.  It would soon be repopulated with Tungrian auxiliaries but it had been a pleasant way to spend the night, safe and secure in the work of others.  He had been lucky to secure the services of a mule for it saved the backs of his legionaries and increased their speed.  This would be his last engineering job before he took his pension and the little piece of land west of Lindum; he was to survey a route from Glanibanta to the coast with a view to building a fort somewhere on a high pass. He felt proud that he had been given the task, perhaps the engineering tribune had heard of his endeavours over the years, whatever the reason it was a fitting laurel to a successful, if uninspired career. He knew the younger optios teased him about his increasing waistline and receding hairline but, as he had trained most of them, he took it in good part. 
    As he looked around at the beautiful scenery he reflected that it was good to be walking in such fine country.  He constantly scanned the valleys through which they passed seeking out the rocks and materials which would be useful to the legions when they came west to build the road and the fort. It was one of the skills he liked to demonstrate, the ability to do two jobs at once and do them very successfully.
    “How far do we go today Optio?”
    “Well Julius that depends.”
    “Depends on what?”
    “It depends in the country.  We have to make sure that the road is as straight as it can be and that there are enough raw materials to make the task easier. If the valley is straight or the ridge straight then we will have an easy time but Mother Nature has a habits of making rivers and valleys curve, just to annoy engineers.”
    The young legionaries smiled.  They had all been pleased to be working with the old engineer.  In the legion he was a legend and they knew they would learn much from him.  Unlike some of the younger optios he never felt the need to impress them with his knowledge or humiliate them with their lack of it.  He was almost like a teacher or a kindly uncle demonstrating a skill.  It would be a nice little holiday from the rigours of the legion.
    He smiled paternally at them as they grinned and joked along the path.  He liked to think that if he had had sons then they would have turned out like these young soldiers before him.  Perhaps when he retired he would find a Brigante woman who would find an older, overweight and slightly balding Roman an attractive proposition and bear him some children; he would like that.  “Come on you wasters we have twenty miles to go today and we have much to do. Drusus take the lead and find an easy path for my old tired bones.”
    *
    Tadgh examined the trail to check for footprints and breathed a sigh of relief when he found none. Aodh had given him the responsibility of looking after Morwenna, the Queen of the Brigante and her two acolytes and fellow witches, Maban and Anchorat. The handful of men at his disposal was far too small and it was only through the diligence of constant scouting and traps in the forest that had enabled them to survive thus far. Aodh had only been gone for a month but it felt much longer. Tadgh and his men were in total fear and awe of the three witches who seemed to be able to communicate without the need for words.  Although all three had been pregnant when Aodh had departed one, Anchorat had given birth. Tadgh and his men had begun to