Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 11] Roman Treachery Read Free Page A

The voice boomed from behind him. 
    Marcus turned to see the Decurion Princeps approaching.  He had served under Metellus as an Explorate and had learned much from that most intelligent and thoughtful of officers. “Metellus! Good to hear you are still alive and your wife has not kept you south of the Dunum.” Metellus and his wife, Nanna, ran a horse stud close to the farm where Marcus’ mother still lived.
    “Every time I am down there she nags me to stay home and it is tempting but, there is still so much to do and now that I am Decurion Princeps of the ala, I feel I have more responsibility. And how is you wife and your son?”
    Marcus’ face lit up.  He would happily talk for hours about every slight change in his young son.  Livius watched the two married men and felt pangs of jealousy.  He would never enjoy a family life and he wondered if that was the curse of a prefect in the auxiliaries.  Marcus Maximunius, after whom the ala had been named had also never married; like Livius the ala was his family and the officers and troopers his children.  “So Legate we need prisoners…”
     
    Far to the north of the wall, in the safety of the Selgovae stronghold, Briac the Brigante, Randal the Votadini and Iucher the Selgovae were in deep discussion. Since their first meeting the representatives of the three main tribes in the region had hammered out their plan to rid the region of the Romans.
    “The gap between the two walls becomes narrower each day and soon it will be closed.” Iucher was becoming increasingly agitated.  He had not believed how swiftly the Romans could build from stone.  It was as though they defecated brick!
    Briac smiled. “It matters not, for, when it is closed, I will be south of the wall and our plans will be in place. With our spy in the enemy ranks we will be able to communicate easily with you.  You will know exactly what the Romans intend as soon as they do.”
    “Why have you not used this traitor before?” Randal was suspicious of the Brigante; old tribal differences were always just below the surface.
    “He has only recently joined and it has taken time for him to become accepted.  Another problem is that, at the moment, he is not yet at the frontier but he will be. The Romans have a great need for warriors and they replace them frequently.  By the time I reach my home I will have made contact with him and arranged the signals we will use. Once I am home then we can begin to disrupt the Roman road. That is their weakness; they rely on the carts and the wagons which trundle up and down their stone ways. They cannot defend them all.  We will slow down their supplies and then your tribes can destroy them on the wall.  When they are weak then we will rise in the south and fall upon the garrisons.  It may not be soon for we need to build up our army but we will rise and they will be destroyed.”
    Randal’s interest was piqued. “What will you do then?”
    “We will capture their wagons and kill their drivers.  We will go into their forts and kill them while they sleep.  We will poison their food and all the time we will smile, as though we are the grateful dog who feeds from their scraps. When we rebelled before we were open and hostile and they knew who we were.  We live with those who love the Romans and we pretend that we love them too. How can they fight an enemy if they know not who the enemy is?”
    Iucher nodded his approval.  “And now that we are at peace with our Votadini brothers we can strike at many places along the wall.” The two tribes had been mortal enemies until the Romans had come and now they had shelved their differences.  Together they would be a formidable foe
    “We have learned that the ones who build the wall, the legions will not be based upon the wall but further away.  When the gap is closed it will not be the mighty legion you face but men from Gaul and other parts of the Empire.  Those warriors, brothers, are their weakness. The